Dunwall Loops
by slayst
Summary: Corvo Attano and the Dishonored universe are joining the Infinite Time Loops.
1. Chapter 1

No-one knows what caused the initial problem with Yggdrasil, the World Tree. All that is known is that at some point in the multiverse's "past", Yggdrasil was damaged. In order to stablize the various universes, the gods (or Admins) put them into a "safe-mode" of sorts, where time is looped during an important portion of the universes time-line.

Originally, seven universes were started looping by the Admins: Ranma 1/2, Harry Potter, Naruto, Bleach, Evangelion, Sailor Moon, and Slayers. Other universes followed afterwards.

And now, long after the event known as 'The Crash', and long after The Doctor's own Awakening, a brand new universe is entering the 'Infinite Time Loops'. Let's see how the imperial bodyguard turned assassin is dealing with an endless life and the craziness of the loops.

* * *

1.01

* * *

It had been useless. All he'd done, all he'd taken upon himlself... to end up where it all started, holding the bloody corpse of his lover as she gave him her last words.

Holding Emily's hand on her coronation day, leading her into the throne room, Corvo Attano suddenly ended up in the palace garden, his sword blocking an assassin's. It had been so confusing he hadn't had the time to protect the empress and was forced to watch her fall, again.

And now, he was in his old prison cell, eying his blood tainted hands. No, they weren't tainted, not yet anyway.

He may not understand that whole situation but maybe... maybe it had all been another test from the Outsider. If so, it was clear that he had failed. Farley Havelock, the Pendelton brothers, Sokolov, the Lord Regent, way too many corpses brought down for his revenge. And in the end, he wasn't feeling any better, there was nothing but rats and plague.

But he now had a way to redeem himself, a way to make it right. He would bring them down, but he wouldn't let himself be blinded by hatred and sorrow. Never again.

* * *

1.02

* * *

Corvo was going crazy, he was sure of it. How many times already had he put Emily back on the throne?

He had done it in every possible way, through murder and kidnapping, choking the whole Dunwall Guard Corp unconscious and even blackmailing the city officials. But there was no escape, he was trapped in this nightmare.

* * *

1.03

* * *

Once again, he had awaken just in time to witness Jessamine's murder, before being knocked out and thrown in his cell. Thankfully, getting out wasn't that difficult. Even if the Outsider kept on avoiding him since the first time around, he had kept the mark and all of his powers... but what was the point of it since he wasn't able to live on, or even _die_ properly?

The tallboy explosive arrow had hurt badly, but he had almost feel relieved. He was out of this whole time nonsense, at least.

But as the cell was now testifying, he was but fooling himself.

He wasn't out, he never would be.

* * *

1.04

* * *

The keyboard was violently assaulted, the sound of keys echoing loudly across those parts of the divine realm. It was well known among gods that such an intense fast-typing never was good news. That the coding was currently done by none other than Hecate, goddess of the new moon, was even more worrying. For her, usually so reserved, to dive so deep into Yggdrasil's code... whatever was happening just _had_ to be dreadful. How exactly she managed to work so fast on six different terminals, with nothing more than wings, was beyond everyone. But hey, Sleipnir was doing it with _hooves_ on a daily basis.

Ceasing her flight upon entering the pavilion, a white-wrapped goddess when straight for her sister.

"Cat, what's happening?"

"Sorry Lén, no time."

Séléné, goddess of the full moon, looked at her sister with a raised eyebrow. Like if saying "Seriously?".

"Come on, we can hear you complaining all the way from Zeus', but you can't take five minutes to explain?"

"No Mis, I can't. The window's closing fast." replied Hécate, her eyes going from screen to screen.

"What window?" asked said Mis, better known on Yggdrasil as Artemis, hunt goddess and last of the moon sisters.

"Ho, you're making a fused-loop for this new anchor of yours."

"Really?"

"Indeed."

"Then why the rush Cat? He will have one soon enough, why forcing it?"

"He still knows nothing and is slowly going mental."

"On a scale from sanitarium to Sakura Syndrome, how mental are we talking about?" said the most human-looking one. It was weird coming from a woman clad in leather armor, holding a long bow and messing with the hawk feathers stuck in her dark-brown hair.

"Bloody murder mental." answered her anthropomorphic bird of a sister.

"Why didn't you just pop in there?"

"I'm restraining myself too much when lowering to so few dimensions and that xylem of a Leviathan is powerful enough to keep me out if I tried. Beside, the whole loop is kinda fuse- and variant-proof, it keeps going baseline."

"So you're forcing it for him to meet other loopers."

"Pretty much."

"Well, let's do it."

"Mis?"

"I'll handle that mark data. Lén, in the meantime, keep the Leviathan at bay."

"Got it." said Séléné before going on her own computer, her great white wings folding themselves behind her back.

"Girls..."

"Stop the drama and focus on your quantum matrix Cat."

"Oh, right. And Lén, watch out for his Outsider."

"Already quarantine him."

"Neat."

* * *

The howl was horrifying, like a thousand voice crying their despair. The twisted body and ghostly white mask only added to the atmosphere.

"Step aside, I'll handle him myself."

"Ai, Attano-taicho."

* * *

"The Seireitei, seriously?"

"Wouldn't it had been better to send him to another loop? Like Equestria, or even Berk?"

"He's not prepared to swap body... and he would have been bored anyway."

* * *

1.05

* * *

Corvo blinked, sorrow assaulting him as he was to watch Jessamine die once more.

But instead of blood, he caught a glimpse of orange as a fist to the chin sent him flying backwards. Hitting the dirt wasn't pleasant, but it was a welcomed new sensation, given the blue cloudless sky offering itself to his eyes.

What was happening? Where was he? And who was he fighting?

"Awake now?" said a cheerful voice.

Picking himself up, Corvo saw an orange-headed teenager in a weird black dress. And the guy was beaming with joy.

"Took you long enough, I was afraid Aizen would come before you got out of it."

"Who are you?"

"Just give it a minute, it's coming."

"What is?"

"In-loop memories. You should get them any minute now."

"In-what?"

"Oh boy, you're new. Okay, stay right here. I'll get us a nice little vacation and give you the speech."

Saying that, the teen seemed to... vanish in a burst of speed.

A shunpo. Wait, how did he know that?

* * *

"So... a broken tree." deadpanned the ordinarily empress's bodyguard.

"Yep."

"... What now?"

The shinigami substitute thought it through for a few seconds, before making up his mind.

"Well, you just got the 'Welcome-to-the-Multiverse' speech. Since you're replacing Byakuya and judging from what you told me of your baseline, there's no need to annoy you with kenjustu or kidô. So let's stay practical and start with 'subspace pocket 101' and move on to 'ping for dummies'."

Corvo Attano smiled, for the first time in forever.

"Let's."

* * *

1.06

* * *

Three unconscious smugglers, brought down entirely through spiritual pressure, in under a single second. As that Kurosaki fellow had predicted, Dunwall citizens weren't ready to support this kind of energy, especially with his captain-level reiatsu. It was now time to see if he had been correct on _that_ too.

* * *

"So you convinced them, that's a relief. Thank you for your kindness, pretenders are way too eager for their own good." stated Granny Rags with a small smile.

It made the old blind women seem almost friendly. But Corvo was beyond that now, he knew too well _what_ she was. A horrid witch, feeding upon Void magic and human flesh to stay _mostly_ alive.

And he hadn't yet met a single undead who would not succumb to his fairly-new power. Fairly, considering it through a shinigami lifespan.

"Split, Keimei."

Good thing that a zanpakuto was soul-linked. His subspace pocket was still too small to store anything other that his copy of 'Looping Tips, by Hermione Granger'.

On someone as twisted as Granny Rags, a kônso wasn't an option. He would purge her the old way, through cold hard steel.

* * *

It appeared there was little he could do without her cameo. The sorceress had dissolved into rats the instant his shikai had struck her, and only her voice had stayed, lingering in the air.

"So, the Outsider was right about you. Not only are you stealing his mark, you're also bringing the void to its knees, forcing it to fold upon himself. Beware stranger, for your powers may be your own end."

Corvo methodically crushed the few rats remaining in the apartment, 'till he couldn't sense any more. It was time consuming, but he had plenty. His end was nothing more that a new beginning.

* * *

1.07

* * *

"Mom, what are those men doing on the rooftop?" asked the little princess, fear making her voice shake.

Corvo simply walked to her and put his hands on her eyes. There was a brief metallic sound, followed by screams. Soon, the imperial bodyguard took his hand away from Emily's face, only to reveal an empty roof and her ill-looking mother.

For the local Anchor, Awakening early was always a good thing. Almost as good as a good supply of enhanced Spring Razors.

* * *

1.08

* * *

"Mom, what are those men doing on the rooftop?" asked the little princess, fear making her voice shake.

Corvo simply came closer to hug her, blocking her field of vision with his larger body. A brief buzzing sound and the imperial bodyguard let go of Emily, smiling.

"Corvo, what is this thing?" asked the little princess, pointing to the weird object that appeared out of nowhere.

"That's an arc pylon, sweetheart."

* * *

1.09

* * *

The High Overseer Campbell heard a small gasp coming from Captain Curnow. Surely was he realizing that his wine had been poisoned, that death was coming for him and every other enemy of their new empire.

Only one of the two men walked out of the meeting room. The overseers standing by the doors soon found that Campbell's glass had been filled with whale oil and small scrap parts. The result had been... messy.

On the office's rooftop, Corvo was raising his whine glass to Pietro's genius and arc pylon leftovers. This loop was going to be fun.

* * *

1.10

* * *

"Great oak!" roared the new moon goddess.

From the other side of the room, her huntress of a sister grumbled.

"You're spending too much time with Lokison."

"Hey, I heard that!"

"Planning on stealing him from Epona, aren't you?" chirped the white-winged woman, last of the moon trinity.

"Am not. Sleipnir's just doing me a favor."

"By being charming?" teased Séléné.

"Prince and stead, all in one." add Artemis.

"Hush you. And no, he's making a Mobius Patch for Corvo's loop to work properly. It should lower the baseline occurrence and allow more fused-loops."

"That's great, but it doesn't justify bad-mouthing." point Artemis.

"I just loaded a beta version to see how it would work out, but that chlorophyll of a Void is echoing with the subspace pockets."

Séléné narrowed her eyes on her sister's screen where data kept on shifting. Then she saw it.

"Oh, it's gonna be good. Come Mis, you can't possibly miss that one."

* * *

The Leviathan was feeling a strange disturbance in the Void, like it was confined... somehow more crippled than usual. The great whale suddenly saw a small burst of light and something that looked like a severed hand coming out of it.

Corvo Attano pulled his whole arm out of his subspace pocket and eyed what he had caught... his mind went blank as the loop crashed.

* * *

Nothing much to say here.

1.01 - Let's get it started.

1.02 - It's getting old.

1.03 - Here, take a bullet.

1.04 - A crazy Corvo ? Nah, we would have known it.

1.05 - Putting him in place of Byakuya was convenient, but I keep thinking he would have been way more efficient in Soi Fon's shoes.

1.06 - 'Keimei' means 'dawn' and 'Split' is because of .. reasons. Don't worry, everything will be explained later.

1.07 - Watch where you're walking, you might hurt yourself.

1.08 - Oh, stop that, it tickles.

1.09 - Remember guys, alcohol is bad for your health.

1.10 - Crashing cetacea, though it was appropriate.


	2. Chapter 2

A brand new set of loops, served hot on your doorstep with a little croissant.

* * *

2.01

* * *

The crash had taken him by surprise. After all, it's not everyday that you witness a whole dimension collapsing from the loss of her cetacean of a living-core. But he'd just checked his subspace pocket and it was working just fine, so he should be able to do what he'd wanted to do from quite a few loops already.

* * *

"Lord Morgan Pendleton?"

"What do you want soldier?" asked the impudent man.

"I am to escort you out of the club."

"What? Why?"

"The new owner wants you to leave the place immediately."

Utter shock appeared on the crazy twin's features. "New owner? What the heck are you talking about? Prudence would have never sold."

"Madame Prudence was proved guilty of using and disposing of clients possessions. Consecutively, she was arrested and taken to Coldridge Prison. Betty is now in charge of the club as requested by the buyer. Now follow me good sir, or I will have to resort to violence."

* * *

Buying the Golden Cat had stripped him of nearly two million coins, but the look on both of the twins's faces as they were dragged out of _his_ building was just priceless.

Maybe next time, he'd bribed Daud and his Whalers. Working with the assassin's guild would probably be a good experience.

* * *

2.02

* * *

"Hey Cat, is your Mobious patch working yet?"

"Yes and no, Mis. It does enhance the loop's accessibility, but the pocket's still leaking in the Void."

"And there's nothing to do about it?"

"Nope."

"Harsh."

"Nah, it should be fine. Sleipnir tweaked it a little so that it won't crash the loop anymore and added a protocol to the local pockets-chart to go and chain the Leviathan to the Void if a connection is made with it."

"_If _it's made?" said Séléné, raising an eyebrow.

"Happening randomly, right?"

"Sadly, yes. The leaking probability was around 40% on each new iteration."

"Four chance out of ten on each loop? That's high."

"Well, I manage to lower the odds, but only to a 12% occurrence chance."

"Better, but still..."

"Yep."

"And knowing that it concerns local and visiting loopers alike..."

"Ok, I'll get the popcorn. It should be fun."

"Maybe not so much for Corvo." giggled the hunt goddess.

* * *

The royal bodyguard was unamused. His pocket was glitching again and … it happened.

"Drop it."

"Hooo, you're not funny Corvo. You should take one, that crystal cider is really good stuff. Man, I miss the living world sometimes."

"Seriously, drop it."

What was that damn Outsider thinking, downing his whole stash like this?

'Remind a former human of what he loosed by ascending to godhood' was so going on his 'no-to-do-ever-again' list.

* * *

2.03

* * *

Coughing blood, the empress's face twitched nervously. But despite her obvious pain, her eyes were focused, like in an attempt to carve her trusted emissary's face in her mind.

"Corvo... It's all... coming apart. Find Jessamine. Protect her. You're the only one. You'll know what to do. Won't you? Corvo?"

With those last words, Empress Emily Drexel Lela Kaldwin died in her bodyguard's arms.

Well, that was a first.

* * *

2.04

* * *

"High Overseer Campbell?"

"What do you want?" barked the corpulent-looking plotter.

"There is a rather urgent matter that we need to discuss."

"What kind of matter?"

"It's really sensible information over the empress's murder, sir. Can't we talk more privately?"

Letting out a sigh, the bulldog-headed man weighted those words for a brief moment, before a glint of malice proving some twisted logic appeared in his eyes.

"Fine, follow me"

* * *

"So, what is that so urgent information you want to talk about?" asked Campbell as his secret room's door closed in a rustling sound. It was fine leading the man here, as he would never leave the place. Not alive anyway.

"That's a nice lair High Overseer. Seriously, I love it."

"Stop goofing around and split it out."

"Split here? That would be terrible, the place is spotless. Well, except for that mattress over there, but I can see why. Seriously, ain't your lady friends cold without their clothes on?"

Grabbing the way too cheerful overseer by the collar, Campbell hissed. "Tell me all you know of the empress' murder before I loose what little patience I have left."

"Geez, cranky."

"I'll have you hung." he stated in a low angry voice.

"Doesn't matter, you'll paid for that little stunt you pulled with the Lord Regent."

He knew, that little jerk of an overseer knew.

"How can you know anything of it? There were no witness, Daud's man made sure of that."

"Come on, you're hiring hex-powered assassins to get Jessamine Kaldwin killed and you seriously expect that nobody will figure it out? Since us, overseers, are formed to hunt such Void freaks, you must really think lowly of your own men to hope we will be blind enough to brush it off, High Overseer."

"You want to know what I think of you? You're but cannon folder and you'll die as such. Don't worry, we'll bury you in a sweet coffin as a town's hero."

Still holding the impertinent fool by the neck, Campbell's other hand closed on his sword handle and drew it out in a swift motion. In the next second, the blade struck down.

But no blood was shed, as a glowing hand had came up to block the sharp metal. Mouth gaping, the High Overseer was wondering how it was possible, when he heard a faint chant coming from behind the man's mask, in a voice as cold as ice.

"Hado 90: Kurohitsugi."

As his body and soul were crushed by the time and space disturbing field, he could only cursed his luck. Why did it have to be a Void zealot?

Corvo smirked as the dark coffin vanished. The overseer outfit was a keeper.

* * *

2.05

* * *

Coughing blood, the empress's face twitched nervously. But despite her obvious pain, her eyes were focused, like in an attempt to carve her lover's face in her mind.

"Corvo... It's all... coming apart. You're the only one. You'll know what to do. Won't you? Corvo?"

With those last words, Jessamine Attano née Kaldwin died in the arms of Lord Corvo Attano, widower Dunwall's Emperor.

Well, that was a first.

* * *

2.06

* * *

"Excuse me Piero, can you craft me something?"

"Sure Corvo, what is it that you need?"

Said man only extended his arm and put a blueprint on the workbench. The engineer took it and his eyes widened at the sketches.

"Those are Tallboy-making instructions. Where did you get those?"

The assassin only grinned. It would be a really diverting loop.

* * *

2.07

* * *

The thin but well-built man was glaring at him, left hand on his machete's handle and right hand fingers playing with his pure Franz-Josef styled beard.

"So newbie, why join us?"

"Just feel like it."

The stare was traveling him, from head to toe, like if it was scanning his whole soul. Would have been funny if it was, just to see the man's reaction.

"Well, you do seem like a capable guy and I like hot-headed minions. Just try not be be too hot-headed, or I'll have to cool you out of it."

Slackjaw raised his arm, presenting an open hand. As Corvo took it, the criminal smiled.

"Welcome to the Bottle Street Gang."

* * *

2.08

* * *

Coughing blood on the river of raven hair lightly touching his skin, the emperor's face twitched nervously. But despite his obvious pain, his eyes were focused and his breath was steady, like in an attempt to carve in his mind the delicate curves made by the flow of tears on his trusted emissary's face.

"Reaven... It's all... coming apart. Find Emile. Protect him. You're the only one. You'll know what to do. Won't you? Reaven?"

With those last words, Emperor Jessar Kaldwin died on his bodyguard's lap.

Well, that was a … well no, gender bender _do_ tend to happen. Just... never on such a scale before.

* * *

2.09

* * *

Awakening in Dunwall prison, Corvo opted for a loop filled with good old murders. The not-so-subtle way of crossbowing and cutting through all of this curing-the-city-of-its-madmen crap once in a while was keeping him in shape. But this time around, it would be grandiose, gory... and furry. The Outsider's mark started to shine.  
The evil smile Corvo displayed quickly died as his summoning ended and he felt a high-powered ping spread across the city.

* * *

The Anchor was confused. Since his time in the Bleach universe and his crash-course on Fused-loops, he'd expected to introduce fellow loopers to his home loop... but did his very first visitor really have to be that weird?  
"I kill or incapacitate all of them in the next couple of days, bring Emily back on the throne and we're pretty much done. Any question?"  
The white bunny replacing his usual Devouring Swarm shook his head, took what was clearly a sword-shaped carrot out of his subspace pocket and hopped out of the cell. The screams soon followed.

* * *

2.10

* * *

"Mom, what are those men doing on the rooftop?" asked the little princess, fear making her voice shake.

Dunwall's protector was about to walked to her when the men suddenly vanished out of reality in a bunch of swirling vortex. As surprising as that was, any questions the witnesses may have had were cut short by the opening of what looked like a portal made of Void energy.

"Corvo Attano, do you mind explaining what's happening with time? " asked the well-dressed man floating out of this dimensional gateway.

With growing dread, the little heiress babbled "Who's that?".

"_That_, Emily, is the Outsider."

The little princess could swore she heard Corvo mutters "And he's ruining my fun_ again_."

* * *

2.11

* * *

The royal bodyguard was glad for this whole time-loops situation. In a life of violence and betrayal, Corvo had managed to stay sane and pick up a few hobbies because of the extra time he had. One of said hobbies was fine art.

For quite a few loops already, his subspace pocket was large enough for him to hold onto Sokolov's paintings. He had every important Dunwall personalities, a few representations of the Void, the Leviathan and even the Outsider, as well as a few paintings of himself in and out of his assassin's mask. But the one he cherished the most was the one portraying Emily's coronation. The loop had lasted long enough for Sokolov to finish his work and for Corvo to grab it and stuff it in subspace.

But today, with this little twist from the loops, his private collection was gaining a new piece which was replacing _Empress Emily Drexel Lela Kaldwin's Coronation_ as his favorite art.

"How … how can you know?" asked in a small whisper the man holding his target at knife-point in its very own office. His hands were shaking as his mind tried to make sense of the portrait displayed before him.

"I'm in your head, Corvo" answered the paint-stained artist in a raspy yet happy voice, so unlike his usual one.

His "_Unmasked Shadow_" was truly a masterpiece and the look on his unawake self was _so_ worth it.

* * *

2.12

* * *

"Excuse-me, is this place taken?" asked a teenage girl from behind a bangs of blond hair.

From the very first loop, Corvo Attano had always found Awakening disturbing. You were minding your own business, such as leading Emily through the palace's throne room or getting shot at by overseers, when the loops came crashing in to throw you around like a ragdoll.

As his own loop usually started with Jessamine's murder, facing what looked like an eleven year old girl with a weird accent was highly disturbing in itself. But what was even more disturbing was that he was himself a young lad. But hey, after all these loops, after once finding himself trapped in a female version of his body, and even in Sokolov's one, he was quite glad that he_ only_ got rejuvenated this time.

Before he could tell the girl that no, the seat was not taken by anybody else, Corvo felt a massive ping rushing over him. It had even more energy to it that the one done by the weird white rabbit. He almost felt like he was back in the Seireitei, with so much power flooding him in a split second. Pinging back, even adding reiatsu and a small touch of void energy for good measure, Corvo apologized to the girl and left the wagon he was in. From his ping, the local looper had most likely realized that the imperial protector was a fresh newcomer to the loops, for he or she (or it, if he trusted Kurosaki) was now flaring reiatsu in huge waves. Like a fly drawn to a light source, except that he was no fly and the light source was_ a freaking lighthouse_, he was leaded to a new wagon on the other end of the train. Opening the door, he met a smirking glass-wearing guy with a lightning-like scar on the forehead.

They shared a warm handshake, as the local looper introduced himself. "Harry Potter, Anchor of the Hogwarts Loop."

"Corvo Attano, Anchor of the Dunwall Loop." replied the royal bodyguard.

* * *

Hope you liked it.

2.01 - Economy's awful but so useful too.

2.02 - Pocket leaks will be a thing here, expect it in the future.

2.03 - Just a small swap.

2.04 - I soooo want a overseer's mask for Christmas, they look awesome. And Kuroitsugi, simply because I like that kidô.

2.05 - No Emily's not such a bid deal. The game would have been so much easier without worrying for her.

2.06 - If only we could have take over one of those tilted exploding assassin, it would have been so much fun. Too bad.

2.07 - Well, what can I say? Unlimited smuggler alcohol.

2.08 - Female Corvo, a real beauty I think.

2.09 - Fluffy death incoming.

2.10 - Void portals, never throw yourself in them without proper protection.

2.11 - Thought it was appropriate, since an assassin spreading blood stains on carpets and walls is as much of an artist as a painter spreading paint on a blank canvas.

2.12 - The opening of a whole set of Hogwarts stories.

See you next chapter for the continuation and end of Corvo's new Fused Loop.


	3. Chapter 3 - Harry Potter Special 1

Here you go, Corvo's Hogwarts Loop. Let's see how he's handling it.

* * *

3.01 – (2.12 continuation)

* * *

The two teenagers had closed the wagon door behind them and seated face to face on the couches.

"So, you're one of the Original Seven, right?" said the freshly Awaken royal guardian.

"Yeah, and you're the new guy Ichigo met." answered the local Anchor.

"You've seen him?"

"I was almost starting to think he had dreamed you." admitted Harry. "By the way, you really shouldn't go stealthy all the time. Trust me, you'll only end up stir crazy." and his look showed he had enough experiences to prove it.

"Oh, I'm not. I blow Dunwall up every other loop." replied Corvo with a little smirk. Those where good loops.

"No, I mean Stealthy, with a capital S."

"What are you talking about?"

"You know... not pinging for a loop duration, to hide that you're awake, and going along with your in-loop memories to maintain baseline? Like the Trek loopers?"

That was confusing for the imperial bodyguard. "I pinged every fused-loop so far."

"Really? But nobody's ever seen you outside of Kurosaki. You're so hard to find and... wait a minute, how many fused-loops did you said you had?"

"It's my second... no wait, third one. There once was that weird bunny replacing my rats."

"Third only? What about your baseline and variants?"

"Something like... three hundred and forty, maybe a little more." He wasn't one to keep score, except for when he was trying to rush Dunwall's purge.

Harry was agape. "Only three."

"Is it so weird?"

"Well, yes. You should be closer to twenty, or at least around ten by now. There must be something wrong with your loop. But that's a first for me, you should see that with your Admin."

"I don't know who it is."

Harry sighed. "Of course, would have been too easy. I'll spread the word around and we'll see if we can learn who's in charge of your universe."

"Then you have my thanks."

"It's nothing, we'll have an interesting schooling together after all."

"Magic school, right? "

"Magic school." Harry smirked

* * *

The weird hat was twitching on his head, going through his memories and thoughts.

"_So, loop__ing. I__t must be funny. Not so much? Bad home-loop right? __Not used to having your mind red like that, Corvo Attano? __Anyway, I have to sort you __out__ and if I'd usually just put you in Gryffindor, Potter insists for new loopers to get my full analysis. Aren't you glad he went first?_"

"Just hurry up please, I'm not comfortable with seating on a stool in front of hundreds of children." begged mentally Corvo.

"_Funny how a fearsome assassin, loyal bodyguard, defender of the __poor__ and savior of a nation, is afraid of a bunch of kids. I guess you're not used to hang around any other than Emily Kaldwin. But she's not such a child anymore, after going through so much. __For the bravery she shows, she would __certainly__ go in Gryffindor."_

"Yes, she would." proudly stated the boy, unaware that he did so out loud.

_"You anyway? Your loyalty to the Kaldwin family is __greater__than anything__, you'll probably do well in Hufflepuff. As for Ravenclaw, it is so not for you. Outside of your paintings and your bat__tl__e strategies, you leave reflection and __headaches__ to Piero. Concerning the last house, you're not so much of a Slytherin. Sure, you're __highly__ resourceful, skilled and you can become quite guile when it's needed, but you're not se__e__king power and despite your position, you're more of a lone __wolf__ than a leader of men. __That is all and I would definitely sort you in Hufflepuff. But let me ask you Corvo Attano, royal protector... which house will it be?__"_

* * *

"Hey, Harry."

"Corvo? What are you doing here?"

"Just wanted to know if you had any tips about my fellow housemates."

"So you just go and climb the Gryffindor tower in the middle of the night?"

"I Blinked up there, it wasn't that hard."

Appropriately, the Boy-who-lived-several-billions-times blinked. "Huh? What do you m... you know what, never mind, come in."

Bringing a heavy leather-bound file out of subspace, he stuffed it in Corvo's arms as the boy stepped in by the window.

"Every Slytherin in the castle, plus their family trees, personal thoughts and tastes. Memorize it all by tomorrow morning. Don't look at me like that, it's for your own good."

"Thanks, I guess."

"You're welcome. And please, ping or flare your reiatsu before any other midnight break-in."

"Got it. See you."

And just like that, Corvo put the large tome in his own subspace pocket and, his left hand starting to glow, jumped straight out the window.

Harry sighed, before grinning over the royal protector's behavior. That guy was so not wizard material it was almost funny, but with such a dark backstory, he had all the rights to be childish and let off some steam.

* * *

"May I ask you, Mister Attano, what is this thing?"

"A sleeping-dart, professor."

"And what exactly, tell me, are you doing with a muggle weapon in my class?"

"Merely trying to discover the components used in its making. I'd like to try and enhance it if such task is possible."

Snape's twitched. "Ten points from Slytherin."

Harry could barely contain his laughter. First potion class and Severus was already taking points from his own house. Corvo was good.

* * *

"Such a disgrace to our house, you shouldn't be allowed to remain in Slytherin. You're a filthy mudblood who's flunking all his spells and will never get anywhere. No ambition, no power, you're nothing."

Turning his head with disdain, Malfoy tried to reach to the main hall, 'tried' being the main word. A pair of arms warped around his neck and he blacked out. He came to his senses two hours latter, hung by his robe on the top spire of Hogwarts's main building. It took one more for him to get noticed and half that time to bring him down (sadly, in a nonlethal sense). Without proofs, the poor boy simply chose to avoid Attano for the rest of the year.

* * *

"Mister Attano, what exactly are you doing?"

One could say that Professor McGonagall was a complaisant woman, and that one would be right. But it wasn't an excuse to mess with her.

"Only trying to understand why my wand's malfunctioning, professor."

"If a transfiguration is going wrong, it is the wizard's fault, not his wand's. As such, robbing miss Greengrass of her own won't help you on that matter. 20 points from Slytherin."

Corvo could only though that it wasn't really fair. It was by all odds his wand's fault if every spells he tried were producing rats and crows.

* * *

"Hey Corvo, where are you going?"

"Detention."

"Again?" mocked Tracey Davis. "What did you do this time?"

"Probably something stupid." stated Daphne Greengrass, who was still rather unhappy about every wand-theft attempt.

Corvo frowned, before answering "I cast a morphing spell on Professor Babbling."

His three fellow Slytherin where dumbfounded.

"Seriously?"

"Bathsheda Babbling?"

"Stupid _and_ dangerous."

"What happened to her?"

"She turned into a crow for a few hours. She's fine now."

"Ok, stupid and harmless then."

"Hey, it was _her_ fault. She ran at me in the hallway and insisted on having me for her next class."

"How is that making it her fault?"

Bright red, Corvo shouted "It just is, stop bugging me. Thanks anyway, now I'm late, she'll probably have my head and it's a really painful way to die." And he knew what he was saying.

Sprinting to the Ancient Runes classroom, Corvo kept on mumbling. _Of course_ it was her fault, that damn teacher had to look _just_ like Jessamine. And since she'd clung so hard to his arm to 'have a good look at the left hand she'd heard so much about', he knew for sure that she was like her. He'd... felt it. But he was in an eleven year old body, and it was frustrating.

* * *

How coud he peep on the girl's dormitory? Was he not ashamed of himself?

"Oh, sorry Hermione, wrong window."

At that, the young witch's blush disappeared and she drew her wand (looked like she was sleeping with it) out of her frilly nightdress that was probably a little too risque for a girl that age. The boy, Attano, was a Slytherin. That could only means one thing. "You're after Harry, right?"

"I'm looking for him, yes. Don't worry, I only want to ask him a little something."

"And what would that be?" she hissed.

"If once that Voldermor's pet is out, I have to give the Philosopher's Stone back to Mr Flamel or if I can keep it, since it is a fake one."

"Wait, what?"

Too late, he was gone.

* * *

"Okay, why did you hit me?"

"Because you keep on startling 'Mione."

"Not my fault she hanging around half-naked. Besides, I'm not interested in teenage girls and I'm already taken... most of the time, anyway."

"And you forgot to ping for the fifth time."

"Okay, that one's on me. But come on, I was in a hurry."

"Why exactly?"

"Quirrell's turned to ash and I was wondering if Dumbledore would still believe me without his body."

"It's okay, it happens in baseline too. Though usually, it's because of me."

"Fiendfyre?"

"Mother's love, more effective. And you?"

"Shadow Kill."

"How does that work?"

"It consumes on death. No corpses lying around to alert other guards, plus it prevents the plague from running free in Dunwall."

Corvo being a murderer wasn't bothering Harry. He'd heard about his baseline from Kurosaki and had, as a matter of fact, done some nasty things too. Every looper did sooner or later. But how exactly did the guy bested all the protections set up by the staff?

"You didn't kill Fluffy, right?" asked Harry, concern showing in his voice.

"Fluffy?"

"The Cerberus."

"Nah, possessed him to move out of the trap door and left him to jump right into it."

"What about the Devil's Snare?"

"Stopped time and cut my way out the door."

"Hasn't happened since a few thousand loops ago. And the key trial?"

"Saw the right one with Dark Vision and Blinked right to it."

"The wizard's chess game?"

"Windblasted the whole game board."

"Subtle."

"As always" smirked Corvo.

"Ok, the mountain troll?"

"Had my Devouring Swarm chew on it."

"Snape's little riddle?"

"Too easy. Not bragging, but I'm quite the expert on poisons and alcohols."

"Trust me, there are more spread across the Multiverse. Anyway, then was Quirrell. I guess he was surprised to find you in my place."

"He looked like a whale on the Grand Market, it was hilarious."

"And Voldy?"

"Muted by stupefaction."

"Neat. So, how did you dealt with them?"

"Explosive bullet. Messy at first, but it quickly burnt away."

"And after all that maiming and murdering, the 'Mirror of Erised' just rewarded you with the philosopher's stone?"

"I just really wanted a souvenir for Emily."

"Yeah, I though so."

* * *

"Harry, you can't be serious?"

"About what?"

"You can't let him into the compartment."

"Why?"

"He's a Slytherin."

"And my earring's just fine, thank you."

"Don't be a prick Ron, Corvo's not a bad guy."

"But he has to be, he's a Slytherin."

The Local Anchor really wanted to facepalm. Best friend or not, an unawake Ron was a pain in the ass.

"Ron, you're embarrassing yourself."

"You too, Hermione?"

"I admit that he's weird but... he's not too bad."

"Thank you 'Mione. By the way, I'd like to apologize for every time I surprised you by night, and congratulate you."

"Congratulate me?"

"Well, yes. You look criminally beautiful with that adorable nightgown of yours."

The girl turned an interesting shade of red, the Wesley gulped and Harry absentmindedly nodded. He pictured quite well which one Corvo was talking about. And truth be told, even if the other Anchor was only fooling around, that nightgown _was_ adorable.

"Anyway Harry, what did you plan for the holiday?" carried on the visiting looper.

"Mess as much as possible with my dear family." And considering his experience, 'as much as possible' was on a divine-level measurement scale. "You?"

"Not sure. I'll just go home and see how it goes."

His worried tone told Harry everything. He had too few fused-loops and wasn't sure how to act toward his current family.

"Don't worry Corvo, it's gonna be fine."

Hermione, composing herself, try to asked what her friend meant.

The loop crashed.

* * *

3.02

* * *

"It crashed? Just like that?"

"For the fourth time, YES!"

"But how?"

"I'm not sure, something to do with that xylem impermeability I guess. So, will you help me?"

Hephaestus lost himself in his thought for a few moments. Morpheus, then Hecate… were the other gods becoming more respectful of his abilities, or simply less prone to being assholes?

"Bring me the little patch Lokison created, I'll see what I can do."

* * *

3.01 - First year out of seven, I'll be sure to bring the rest some other time around. Why Slytherin you ask? Because I find it quite funny to see someone screwing the house from the inside. As for Corvo's childish behavior, it's as Harry stated, simply to clear his mind of Dunwall's violence. And Hermione nightwear, because_ I do_ love to mess with her.

3.02 - Poor Hephaestus, he's already overloaded with work and nobody seems to care. Don't worry, I'll try to make it up to you.

From now on, I'll get back to small glimpses of loops. But every once in a while, I'll still do full chapter like that.

See you soon around Yggdrasil.


	4. Chapter 4

This new set has no reason to contain a cookie. Hence, it does not. It does have squirrels though.

* * *

4.01

* * *

Awakening, Corvo faced the tainted walls of his very own cell in Coldridge Prison. Back to his home loop, once again.

The royal guardian stood up and smiled lightly. Sure, he would miss Hogwarts and the Potter guy, but classes were starting to bore him and he was longing a good sword-fight. Beside, it surely wouldn't be his last fused-loop with him.

Quickly dumping his rags for a more convenient outfit, he then reached for his key-chain and sword in his subspace pocket, before going out the door with a nasty smile.

After the sparkles and almost-too-kind spells, it was time to get bloody.

* * *

4.02

* * *

"Sorry to bother you Piero, but can you craft me something?"

"Of course Corvo. What is it that you need?"

The royal bodyguard's only answer was to extend his arms over the near workbench, before dropping a blueprint and some metal parts on the oil-soaked wood.

Catching the plan, looking over it, the engineer froze as his eyes widened.

"Where is this coming from?" he asked with a shaky voice.

His only response was a beaming smile.

* * *

Knees on the pavement, Dunwall's Anchor was whistling while filling whale-oil containers and dumping them in subspace.

For three loops already, the city's streets had been sparkling in residual static electricity. The arc gun had taken three visit from the Outsider to three different Pieros for him to came up with a doable design, and seven more loops to make a 'non-exploding-on-firing' model. But Corvo simply loved the sight of small ashes heaps where once stood the city guards.

He would eventually get bored of it. But right now, it was just too much fun.

* * *

4.03

* * *

"So, time is repeating itself." stated Jessamine Kaldwin matter-of-factly.

Her faithful guardian simply nodded.

"Those men" she turned her chin towards the three unconscious assassins on the floor "were hired by conspirators to kill me and kidnap Emily."

Another nod, concern showing on his face.

"And since you prevented my death, you want me to end this putsch myself."

Silence there, as if he was apologizing for what he was asking her to do.

"So you can go on a vacation!" ended the empress, almost shouting.

"Yes." shone Corvo.

Okay, so he was not apologizing, at all.

Looking at her personal bodyguard, then at her daughter poking the cuffed assassins with a stick, the woman let out a loud sigh.

"You'd better pay me back in your next loop."

"I'll take you and Emily on a trip to the Southern Islands."

"Deal."

* * *

4.04

* * *

After so many loops, Corvo was positive that nothing could ever startled him again.

He was so not prepared for what happened next.

The assassin had just casually escaped the prison without any bloodshed, and he had done so with his eyes closed, literally. Blocking his reiatsu and magic, to prevent himself to sense anything, he minuted his escape from memories only.

It had gone wonderfully, until he reached the sewer exit and got crushed in a bear hug.

"Corvo, you're here."

Okay, whoever that was, he/she/it had just crushed his rib cage.

"Ho Corvo, I don't know what's going on."

From the deep haunted voice, it was a he. Struggling, the royal bodyguard saw the assailant's eyes for the first time. They were swinging madly and adding to his face's porcelain taint, positively making him appears as a lunatic.

"They all forgot. All but me. But you remember too, right?"

He finally connected the dots and took full measure of what was happening.

"Please, tell me you remember." begged the almost-beggar.

"I do Samuel, but please, release me before you break my spine." he chirped happily.

"You... you do? Then... I'm not going crazy?"

"You're not and I'll explain everything, but it will take some time. Let's get back to the Hounds Pits."

Gently pushing Samuel away, leading him to the boat, Corvo could only smile. He had every rights to, as the man was now officially his very first fellow Dunwall looper.

Boarding, his smile wagered a little. Yeah, the boatman would need the speech... and a good bath. Definitely not in that order.

* * *

Corvo's meeting with the loyalists had been brief. Claiming the need for a good night sleep, he promptly got to his room, discreetly dragging Samuel along. Said man was now looking at him with begging eyes.

"So, what's happening?"

The assassin decided to go smoothly on him..

"I'll get to it. But first, tell me everything you remember of before you Awoke."

Oblivious to the emphasis on that last word, the boatman started speaking.

"Well... you broke out of prison, came to the Houds Pits, took care of the High Overseer, Lord Pendleton's brothers and saved Lady Emily. Then you kidnapped the royal physician and disposed of Lady Boyle."

"Which Boyle was it? Esma, Lydia or Waverly?"

"You never said."

Too bad, it would have narrowed the list of Samuel's possible first loop.

"And how come you don't know? I though you only killed the Lord Regent's mistress."

He had killed her? Well _that_ narrowed the list.

"It keeps on changing and... never mind, go on."

"Not much to say, I just dropped you at the palaces and was waiting for your return. You were in there for less than ten minutes when the whole city started to burst into flames in the distance. The next thing I know, I'm in the Houds Pits Pub again and Admiral Havelock is sending me to pick you up."

Corvo sighed. So it was that loop. Among every loops he had gone through, it just had to be that one, how lucky of him.

"I though that with your connection to the Outsider, you had to know something. So I came to the sewer's exit, hoping that you'd remembered."

The royal bodyguard raised an eyebrow. "How do you know about the Outsider?"

"You kept teleporting all around the pub."

"Oh... right."

"Now, care to tell me what is happening?"

"Sure thing, but before that..."

Corvo pulled a brandy bottle out of subspace, along with two glasses and an ice bucket.

Samuel's jaw dropped.

"We're gonna need this."

* * *

"And we get back every six days?"

"six, seven, ten days, it depends. Usually, it ends during Emily's coronation or when Piero and Sokolov manage to make their antidote to the plague. But we do have extra time every few loops, thanks to variants. Hell, it once last until I died of old age."

"Then... why did it end when I left you by the palace?"

"It was a crash." deadpanned Corvo.

"A crash? What caused it?"

"I was a little too excited. I wanted to go baseline for a loop, as I had cast _Diffindo _and _Incendio _on everybody for three loops straight, and... I didn't take the time to check on my pocket. It was definitely glitching, because I had lost all my whale oil stash after the crash, along with my custom arc pylon. The Void must have turned into one hell of a barbecue."

"You blew up the Void?" whispered the boatman.

"It blew spontaneously, or the Outsider played with the arc pylon and turned every altar across Dunwall into a blazing inferno by himself. I swear, the guy may be funny but he's too curious for his own good."

Funny? The living embodiment of the Void? Since when was Corvo so... childish?

"So... what now?"

"Well, I was planning to spend the loop blindfolded."

"Blindfolded?"

"I know, boring. But since you're here, what do you think about pranking the Outsider? The paint-covered Leviathan is getting old and I need someone to try some new ideas."

"You painted the Leviathan?"

"Welcome to the loops." replied the assassin, smirking

* * *

4.05

* * *

The newly appointed head of the guards was nervous. It was not everyday that you were promoted and convoked to the Lord Regent's chamber in the span of a few hours.

But with the multiple disappearances across the city, and the servants gossiping of moving shadows all around the building from now three days, he couldn't resent his predecessor for quitting. In fact, he would have done it himself if not for the man's parting gift and the Lord's new policy. Nobody could quit, unless said person wanted to be beheaded in public for treason. And he really wanted to keep his head on his shoulders, so he had to bear with all the new responsibilities he'd never wanted, including the current summoning to the Lord's chamber.

Entering the bedroom, his worries flew away and he found himself dumbfounded at the display before him.

The intertwined and almost naked bodies of the Lord Regent, the Pendleton brothers, the High Overseer, the Royal Scientist and all three of the Boyle sisters in fine lingerie was not something you'd expect to run into.

Looking from atop the hall's chandelier, Corvo and the Outsider were enjoying the sight. Sure, they had had to hang around the palace until the Regent was paranoid enough to cloister himself in his room, plus mess shamelessly with his head until he had felt the need to call someone. But now that they had rearranged the scene, it was simply priceless.

As his partner in crime dissolved back into nothingness, the royal guardian could only smile. It truly was amazing what you could do with a glitching pocket and the Void's envoy willing to host all those peoples in stasis for a few days. Next time, he'd love to repeat the event at the Boyle's party. That would surely make a good impression for the guests.

* * *

4.06

* * *

Waiting by the sewer's exit, Samuel Beechworth was casually flipping a coin. To any onlooker, it wouldn't have been so casual, as the boatman was storing it in his subspace pocket between every throw.

Seeing his Anchor stepping in the sunlight, he stopped his training and climbed back in his good old Amaranth. The royal protector did the same, and the engine started to roar.

"So... Bad loop?"

"How can you tell?"

"It's seven a.m. and you're drinking bourbon." stated the boatman.

"True." laughed Corvo, sadness in his voice.

"Want to talk about it?"

A whisper exited the ill-looking man's lips. "Check your in-loop memories."

The boatman did... and nodded. He understood.

* * *

Jessamine had died again and for the first time in forever, Corvo had felt something. After all those deaths, all those murders and bloodbaths, a tiny spark in him had awoken. But he was feeling hollow, as rather than sadness, it had been relief.

Since his fifth loop, he wasn't letting Daud's assassin startle him anymore. Blocking his sword on Awakening, he punctured his throat and quickly shoot the other assassins. Summoning a second sword from subspace, he stepped forward and as soon as they appeared, severed Daud and his last man's heads from their bodies. The plaza once more safe, Corvo turned to the empress and the young heir and proceed to hold them tenderly.

That's when his in-loop memories hit him.

Releasing his grasp over Emily, he summoned another sword and started to cry. He whispered in Jessamine's ears and her eyes widened.

"I'm sorry."

His blade pierced her gut.

Yes, he'd killed her. For the first time, Corvo Attano had willingly ended Jessamine Kaldwin's life. But he was relieved, as in a way, he had saved her. In this variant, she was too cold toward her citizen, compassionless, brutally efficient... she was a tyrant. Her similar behavior toward her own daughter had convinced Corvo that he was doing it for Emily's sake.

The Regent was rightful this time, and more than capable of handling the city. Emily would be adopted by the Pendletons who were (surprisingly) owning an orphanage. If not for the Loyalists who were probably as bad as their late empress, and checking on Samuel as he was not confortable with pinging yet, Corvo would have been more than happy to spend a few days in prison, for the sake of Dunwall. His only regret was that Emily had to witness her mother's murder by her father's hand. The loops sometimes had a twisted sense of humor.

* * *

4.07

* * *

After murdering Jessamine, he had wanted to change his ways. For thirty loops, he had been pacifistic. But since this variant of the plague was inducing what Potter had called a large-scale Zombie Loop, worst than the baseline Weepers, Corvo was way too eager to use Devouring Swarm and call forth his trusted bone-cleaners.

As predicted, it was working perfectly... but why the hell was he summoning squirrels?

* * *

Aaaand cut. Perfect, I love it. It's a keeper.

4.01 - Hey honey, I'm home.

4.02 - What's better than a gun-sized arc pylon?

4.03 - Great deal for Corvo, it simply means that he gets two vacation loops.

4.04 - Welcome, little boatman. I still wonder how you'll turn over time.

4.05 - A sleepover, nice.

4.06 - Killing for others, not the easiest thing to do.

4.07 - As promised, squirrels.


	5. Chapter 5

Hello there good sir. My chief found this manuscript under a three years old pile of scientific and technical reports, next to a forgotten roblochon and a copy of Carlos's first cd. It was destined to you great-great-great-grandfather (the manuscript, not the roblochon or cd), but you can sign the register for him, I'm sure he won't be upset. Aaaand there, thank you. Hope you like the quickness and seriousness of our delivery service.

* * *

5.01

* * *

A imposing silouette advanced stealthily in the room, approching the distracted resident.

"So," it asked with a smirk, "busy?"

The goddess jumped in her chair, her heart reaching an unhealthy beat-rate, only slowing down once she managed to process her visitor's identity.

"Hephaestus?"

"You know Hecate, you should lower the sound or Zeus will storm in to ask who's playing Galaga."

"Come on, I'm taking a break."

"A break between what and what exactly?"

"Hush you."

"And hushing."

"Who let you in?"

"Séléné."

"Of course. What do you want?"

The god dropped a small device on the moon goddess's workshop, saying "Your patch."

Oh yeah, she'd ask for his help with the Mobious Patch... but... "Already?"

"Sleipnir had pretty much done everything I needed."

"Well.. thank you."

"You're welcome." he answered, smiling smoothly.

"So, the Hogwarts's crash, you know why it happened?"

"Yeah, but it wasn't related to the patch, it was Corvo's fault. Okay, not his fault per say, but his mark's."

"What does the mark have to do with the loop crashing randomly?"

"Well, that's it. It wasn't random. Here, I'll show you."

Hephaestus plugged the storage device in Hecate's terminal and opened dozens of windows, displaying shifting texts and diagrams.

"You see this? It's the mark's data."

"I know, I worked on that before."

"But you probably missed that." he stated, pointing at a pair of windows where multiples ray of light where circling around a constantly changing set of numbers.

"I missed nothing." she pouted. "And what does the app monitoring the Void have to do with anything?"

"Look closely... there... there again."

"I don't see any..."

The goddess eyes open widly. "Wait, is it... resetting?"

"Bingo! Except for the Leviathan, the Outsider and whoever visits at the moment, the whole dimension resets every few seconds."

"Great. So what?"

"See it as a mean to keep energy. Unlike with Hogwart's magic, the Elemental Nations's chakra, the Seireitei's reiatsu and other powers out there, the mark's energy is not produced by the inhabitants's bodies or the world in itself, it comes from the Void. And because the mark powers basically reaps the energy from the Void, it makes the dimension flicker, dimension which then have to reset itself to get back to it's former energetic state. You see where I'm going?"

"The Void is microlooping to stay energized."

"And what do you think would happen if the dimension kept getting its energy drained and wasn't resetting?

Hecate gulped soundly. "It would collapse."

"Precisely."

"So what you're telling me is that when Corvo goes to other loops, where there's no dimension such as the Void..."

"Him using his powers draws on whatever power is making the loop goes straight, destabilizing it until the energy is irremediably lacking. In Hogwarts, he essentially eroded the whole planet's magic, which caused the loop to crash."

Hecate staid silent for a moment, before grumbling "A crash-inducing powerset. What did I do to merit such a loop?"

"You pissed Zeus off."

"Those man-eating tuna loops weren't my fault."

"Zeus thinks differently." Hephaestus replied, smiling, while she started to mutter some insanities. Or he thought it was insanities.

"So, want to see what I did to your little patch?"

"You manage to find a countermeasure?"

"Not really, there's nothing to do but warn Corvo to go easy on his powers."

"So... what did you do?"

"You know how the mark serves as a medium between Dunwall and the Void."

"And?"

"I enhanced the leak resistance. The chance of it happening is so low that anybody without a direct connection to the Void is virtually safe. No mark, no weak spot for your glitch to exploit, no leaking pocket."

"It will only affect Corvo?"

"And whoever replaces him."

"But, those visiting loopers claiming a mark, they'll surely try to use it back home. And with it weakening the loops... won't it cause crashs all across Yggdrasil?

"Don't worry about that, I asked Zurvan for pointers and made the mark read-only, like the Doctor's technology."

Hecate was speechless.

"Happy?"

"... Y... Yeah, thank you."

"Oh, that's peanuts. Check this out." he added, opening the Dunwall Loop's pocket-chart protocol. "I scrabble a little over there, add those few lines and run a dozen algorithms. Now, not only will it chains the Leviathan to the Void, but it will also identifies every object exiting the pocket through unusual means and duplicate it back in subspace. The Looper's stash will be safe, even if a custom-made Gundam is dropped into the Void and ends in the Outsider's hands, as the protocol is linked directly to Yggdrasil's ItemID backup. And unless a god-level relic replicates four or five times, the loop won't be stressed at all. "

Okay, it had been a lie earlier, Hecate had just been puzzled. _Now_ she was speechless.

* * *

5.02

* * *

For as long as he has looped, the Outsider's reaction has always been a concern to Corvo. Coming to him for an explanation or to threaten him, helping with his mission or with pranking the conspirators, showing him a cold shoulder or sending Granny Rags after his head, the Outsider had done it all. Or so he thought.

"Corvo Attano, you broke the time continuum and upset the Outsider. We're here as his envoys to stop you and allow Dunwall out of this nightmare. Prepare yourself, for we will have no mercy."

The royal protector sweat-dropped as the five masked and colorful-skin-tight-suited Boyle Ladies's hands started to shine with Void energy.

Other loopers would have warn him of Power Rangers variants but, sadly, he was alone to face this unknown threat.

He turned heels and ran.

* * *

5.03

* * *

Louise pronounced the last word of the summoning ritual and smoke filled the area. Light green ghastly vapor only, not the explosion-remains dust she used to make. She wasn't flunking her spells anymore, but she loved how a little smoking made everything seems more grandiose.

As it cleared out, she saw that her current familiar was definitely not her boyfriend. The summoned man looked around him, confused, before closing his eyes and sending a ping. Alongside it, Louise felt reiatsu, Hogwart's branch of magic and… something awfully familiar.

She stepped forward and gently grabbed his arm.

"Hold on, take a deep breath. The summon can make you Loopy."

She winked, he nodded.

"Hey, the Zero failed. She summoned a commoner."

"How sad."

"What did you expect?"

"True, she's the Zero after all."

That last mocking boy had barely finished his phrase when a syringe filled with a glowing green goo found its way in his torso. He stumbled and hit the dirt in seconds. As one, every head turned warily to the human summon and the weird crossbow in his hand.

Rolling his shoulder, the man justified his act with a small "His laugh was nerves cracking."

The weapon vanished as he let go of it and turned back to the pink-haired witch.

"So, where am I?"

* * *

"Louise."

"Corvo?"

What was he doing here? He couldn't possibly have red the novel's 20 tomes, right?

"You've finished already?"

"No, but I have a question about Void magic."

"What do you want to know?"

"Can you teach me a few spells?"

That was unexpected. Many loopers wanted to learn about her world's magic system, but few were the ones who asked about the Void. Fewer even those who did it without learning to control the other elements before. In fact, he was the first.

"I'm afraid I can't. The Void element only responds to its current host, me. I can show you the moves, teach you the words, but you won't be able to use them."

"I'd like to try."

"Oooook?"

* * *

Mouth wide open. Very unladylike manners.

But Louise didn't care. All she wanted to know was,

"How?"

Yeah, that.

"Harry... Lina... even Twilight Sparkle. They all tried, but none were able to replicate it while not replacing me or another user. So how come you're able to cast Explosion?"

As his right was on the plane's joystick, Corvo's left hand was pointed to the side, glowing maliciously. Albion fleet burned and the royal guardian grinned like a Cheshire cat.

"The Void and I are old acquaintance."

* * *

5.04

* * *

Strolling by the sewer's exit while tossing his coin, Samuel felt content. His training was bearing its fruits and he would soon be capable of holding his trusted Amaranth in his pocket.

Plus, he was to meet another looper. Even if he wasn't on par with Corvo yet, he had still felt and answered to the earlier ping and if the visitor was as skilled as his Anchor, he was expecting him, her, or it, any minute now.

An elegant man stepped out of the sewer, black suit bathed in the morning light and tie blown by the wind, well-combed hair and finely chiseled traits speaking of high status yet eyes showing modesty, compassion, strength and great wisdom.

Walking toward him, Samuel presented his open hand."Welcome to the Dunwall loop."

Welcoming the handshake, the man asked "You're the local Anchor?"

"No, that would be Corvo Attano."

"I heard about him. You guys are fairly new."

"I guess."

"So, you are?"

"Samuel Beechworth, boatman."

The man grinned widely. "Bruce Wayne, batman."

* * *

5.05

* * *

Emily Kaldwin was scarred. Completely and utterly scarred.

Her mom had been killed, she had been kidnapped, locked in the Golden Cat ever since, and she'd been told by that mean Madame Prudence that Corvo had been sent to jail.

So she was drawing. To occupy her mind, prevent it from remembering her terror.

"Emily."

The voice was soothing, yet she jumped.

Turning around, she froze. There stood Corvo, before a door floating in the middle of the room.

She didn't care that it should have been possible. He had come to get her, that was all that mattered. She rushed into his arms.

The royal protector allowed the heiress to cry on his shoulder for nearly twenty minutes. As her sobs quieted down, he grabbed her hand gently and stepped to the still-present door.

"Let's go."

"Where?"

Pulling the door handle, bathing the room in golden light as the door leaf revolve slowly, he whispered "Anywhere you want."

* * *

5.06

* * *

Darkness.

Pitch-black darkness.

An endless ocean of emptiness... pierced by an unlimited number of stars.

He was on his back, facing the sky, as blood and death were spread all around him. He should have wondered where he was, which loop he was in, why his body was bulky, why his canines were fangs and why he was seeing everything through a weird helmet, but his thoughts were elsewhere.

As saw-swords were crushing bones, plasma bolts melting flesh... he was there, in his Space Wolf armor, staring at that unknown ocean.

He had missed it.

Sure, he had his boat... but Dunwall's riverside was nothing like the infinity of the sea, or the star ocean in front of him.

His thoughts were interrupted as an equally armored-soldier, minus the helmet, caught his arm and took him away from a viciously-aimed plasma bolt. He could only lay down, as two gray shadows darted past him and a symphony of screams joined the world's clamor.

"Hey there son, you're okay?"

"..."

"You're not going Wulfen, right?"

"..."

"I don't recognize you, what's you company?"

"..."

"Okay, I thing I get it. It may sounds weird but do you, by any chance, happen to live in circle? Maybe even remember another life?"

"I... I'm looping."

"Oh, so you _can_ talk. Was beginning to think you were mute. What's happening son, had a bad loop?"

"It's beautiful."

The spacemarine wasn't expecting this. The only thing he could think of was "Huh?"

"The night sky, it's beautiful."

The man looked up and his traits softened.

"It is. I'm dating it... sort of."

He left out a little sigh, before turning back his gaze to the still-down looper, all kindness taken away in a split second.

"Now's not the time soldier, we have a fortress to conquer."

* * *

On latter loops, Corvo would often ask Samuel why he was raising wolf pups each time he had the chance to do so. The boatman's answer would always be "We take care of our own."

* * *

5.01 – With this update on the Mobious patch, the Dishonored loops are almost canonical. Yeah, I started to write them without checking the community on the SpaceBattle forum, so it's technically non-canon. Since then, I did join the community and am making everything to "right the wrongs".

\- The leak glitch was judged a big no-no, since '_Everything that's in subspace is safe!_'. It will now only concern Outsider's mark wielders (visiting loopers included), solely in Dunwall and only if the writer wants it (since it's happening randomly/when a snip is written.)

\- The leak has been changed into a sort of item-centered Mikasa glitch, with the object being copied instead. I'll probably add a "leaked item's size" limitation in a further chapter. I know he would love it, but let's not give a nuke to the Outsider, ok?

\- With the mark causing crash, Corvo's one year long Hogwarts loop is justified. I'll have him go through each year and other loops this way.

\- The mark is read-only, kinda. Dunwall loopers can get and keep them, foreign loopers will only have them for the loop duration.

5.02 – The Outsider will always catch Corvo off guard. You too, by the way.

5.03 – They can relate to each other. Well, not so much, their histories are way to different. But the void is a constant, so why not?

5.04 – I just had to do this one. Since Corvo's not here and Dc's anchor is Nightwing, he's probably somewhere out there, unless a stealth anchor's running around.

5.05 – Familiar of Zero's World Door void spell. Making things so easy it's almost boring.

5.06 – With his past as a naval soldier, I just couldn't make him anything else than a Spacemarine. As for the Space Wolfs, it's for commodity. Since Samuel don't ping easily, he had to be caught by an attentive enough person. As Primarch, Leman's probably one of the few loopers there who should know every single one of his soldiers and be able to observe the smallest thing out of place (here, a healthy yet paralyzed spacemarine).

See you soon, thanks for reading.


	6. Chapter 6

Dunwall loops's new recipe: now with 100% more bees and 250% more awesomeness.

* * *

6.01

* * *

"So Corvo, what are we up to for the loop?" asked Samuel, resting against the sewer's wall.

"Nothing much."

"You're out of ideas?"

The royal bodyguard sighed. "I need a break. I just killed Jessamine and the sixth time isn't easier than the first fives."

"Oh, it's one of those loops. Want me to rescue Emily?"

"Nah, don't worry soldier, she'll be fine. It's a Pendleton's orphanage variant. Also, I'm planning a little something for the next Lady Regent variant and I need Piero to craft me a few modified Rewire Tools. So I'll go ask him and just cool down for the rest of the loop."

"You had a destination in mind?"

"How about the Void?" suggested an unfamiliar voice in a happy tone.

In less than a split second, Zanpakuto and plasma gun were out of subspace and pointed at the stranger.

"My, gentlemen, no need for violence."

"Who are you?"

The woman (cause she was undoubtedly one) waved the white-feathered wings she had in place of arms and bowed, smiling. "Hecate, goddess of the new moon, crossroads, witchcraft, necromancy, and matter-of-factly, your Admin. Now if you please, I need your assistance."

* * *

"Samuel."

"Yes?"

"Tell me again how come we're trespassing into the Void?"

"Well, our dear Admin baited the Leviathan with her sisters to keep him occupied, as she had to visit and tell us about that _Mobius Patch_ of her. But neither of the goddesses can escape the whale's grasp by themselves without major interferences and potentially loop-destabilizing results."

"..."

"So we had to use the leak glitch–somehow patched with a one-time setting, designed just for this task–to enter the Void. And now we're about to kick the Outsider's butt, thus distracting the Leviathan long enough for the goddesses to flee."

"..."

"..."

"..."

Looking at each other, the two loopers sighed loudly before speaking in perfect unison.

"I can't believe I just said that."

"Can you do it again? I'm sure I misheard you somewhere."

Gods, this loop was too much.

* * *

6.02

* * *

Despite being handcuffed with her back to the wall, Dunwall's heir glared. The assassin was supposed to host her for a while, there was little he could do but glaring back.

"Don't resent me princess, it's just business."

"Business? That was a cold-blooded and meaningless murder."

"Well, not so meaningless. Your mother was failing her country and someone thought that he would do a better job. Will he? I don't know and I don't care, but I've been payed and that's what really matters." he said shamelessly.

"Because of your actions, citizen will die, the country will erupt into civil war. Does that mean nothing to you?"

"I don't care what happens to Dunwall. I'm Serkonan, your problems are not mine."

"You made them yours when you kidnapped me."

Daud smirked.

"Oh, that's where you're wrong. I didn't kidnapped you and in fact, I don't exist."

The heiress lowered her head. How the man loved to see that expression on people. It meant that he had won, that they were accepting their defeat and slowly falling into despair.

He had little time to rejoice. The child suddenly appeared in front of him, out of her shackles, a weird sword flashing in her small hand.

Unable to react, feeling his life quickly reaped away by the countless blades, Daud heard his last words.

"Let me tell you where _you_ were wrong. You tried to scared what you assumed was a frightened and defenseless girl. I don't know you and I don't want to, but hear me out... _You don't do that in front of me._"

As the bloody corpse fell, the girl hissed.

"Guess you were right on one thing... you don't exist."

Her white dress turning crimson, she stepped aside from the body and reaffirmed her grip on the saw-sword's handle. It looked ridiculous, considering the sword was as tall as her.

Reaching for her ear, she activated a little device.

* * *

In Coldridge Prison, prisoners heard a buzzing coming from a nearby cell.

"Samuel?"

"Not exactly." replied a girly voice Corvo knew well. "I caught your signal and though it best to warn you. Take a vacation, I'll torch that little coup myself."

"... Really?"

"Sure, don't worry about it. And next time you'll see him, tell Beechworth that his primarch says hi."

"Wait, you mean that you're–,"

The link was cut.

* * *

6.03

* * *

"Ow, honey, you shouldn't have done that."

The assassin cursed.

Since she had met him, the crazy old bat had insisted on calling him honey and now that he he had tried to behead her, he was finally seeing why.

A loud buzzing sound erupted all around him and his vision got swarmed by black and yellow. The old witch's frantic cackle echoed around the lair as Corvo contemplated the distance separating him from Granny Rags's cameo.

The first sting pierced his skin... sucked to bee him.

* * *

6.04

* * *

"Corvo."

"Samuel."

"I was wondering something. How come you spend about one third of the loops murdering everyone and I never saw the plague spread further than the Lord Regent's chamber since baseline?"

"Because I'm getting rid of it." replied the guardian, as if it was obvious.

"... Come again?"

"I cleanse the plague first thing after escaping Coldridge." he answer, voice sounding calm but somehow cold at the same time.

"Okay, now I'm curious. How?"

The royal bodyguard simply held out his hand and grabbed the sword which appeared out of thin air.

"Your Zanpakuto?"

A sigh, then "Yes."

"You expect me to believe that you're personally taking care of every rat in the city?"

"No, I'm not."

"Then how?"

"Remember what I told you about how Keimei works?"

"You reap the evil out of the poor guy you're slicing."

"More like the embodiment of his corruption, but yes."

"And how is that relevant?"

"That's how the shikai works. Now, for the bankai... "

Corvo paused, tiredness showing on his face.

"Bankai?"

"The full release, Hakumei."

"What does it do?"

"It… cleanses."

"What exactly?"

"... E... everything. Good and evil, steel and stone, air and water, plants, reiatsu, flesh and bones... it's back to nothingness on several miles, Tabula Rasa."

From what Ichigo Kurosaki had told him, it was one of the most powerful Bankai a looper has ever inherited. Sadly and as anyone could have expected, it had its downsides.

"Then how... how can you cleanse solely the plague then?"

"Through willpower, a lot of it." and wasn't that an understatement. "Focus on protecting instead of burning everything, being a guardian and not an executioner."

There, the downsides. Never before had he had to focus on such a task... literally hours of meditation in his inner-world before any purging for he risked erasing innocents and friends from existence on every use.

"It... it suits you."

Corvo shrugged... Keimei and Hakumei were basically him, but he really didn't like being reminded of that. That destructive side of his was useful on some loops, but the times where his unawake self had accidentally committed murder were still heavy on his mind.

The royal bodyguard tried to ease his posture and breathed out "I guess it does. Now excuse me, I'll... I'll... go... somewhere."

Samuel blinked...

His Anchor was gone.

* * *

6.05

* * *

The boatman was furious, his face turning a dangerously dark tone of red.

"Why would you do that?"

"I was feeling Loopy."

"What?"

Ok, so he wasn't Awake.

"Calm down Samuel, I'm sure Piero can fix it."

"_or not_" Corvo added in his thoughts.

It looked like the ex-soldier had unconsciously followed the same train of thought as he stated "There's nothing left to fix, you blew up my Amaranth."

"Technically, it wasn't me, it was the oil." corrected the bodyguard.

"That you poured into the engine."

"But you brewed that." whined the city guardian.

"What?"

"Nothing. You know what, you're right, it was entirely my fault. Allow me to amend myself."

"And how would you do that?"

"_Reparo_."

* * *

"So, we're good?"

Samuel wasn't even close to mouth a single "thank you". He was way too busy, having passed out when the engine had started to reassemble itself.

* * *

6.06

* * *

"Sorry to bother you Piero, but can you craft me something?"

"Of course Corvo. What is it that you need?"

The royal bodyguard's dropped a blueprint on the nearby workbench.

Catching the plan, looking over it, the engineer frowned.

"I fail to see the point of such a thing."

"Oh, it has its perks."

"Joinery isn't my specialty. Plus I don't have the wood for this."

"I had Samuel pick some at the sawmill down by the city docks. He's unloading it at the moment."

"... That would take a few days."

"I know. I'll wait."

* * *

Samuel felt lost. What was Corvo thinking?

"Why on Yggdrasil would you need a... how did you call it?"

"A pool table."

"Right, that."

"Well, the Hounds Pits is a bar."

The boatman face kept the same expression of utter confusion.

"So?"

"Trust me Samuel, a bar isn't a bar without a pool."

A raised eyebrow, the situation was slowly getting out of hands.

"And you know that because?"

"That's not important, I just do." answer the Anchor. Maybe a little too quickly.

Samuel's ears caught the slight swing in his voice and he cracked a smile.

"There's something else, right?"

Corvo looked dark for a split second, before frenzy infested his eyes.

In a hurried voice, he splat "When a reformed Sith Lord bets on you loosing twenty games in a row, never assume that he's bragging. Ever."

* * *

6.07

* * *

Emily Kaldwin was scarred. Completely and utterly scarred.

She had been kidnapped, locked in the Golden Cat ever since and she'd been told by that mean Madame Prudence that Corvo had been sent to jail for her mother's murder.

She couldn't believe that, her father would never ever do that. So she was drawing, putting her heart onto the walls as dozen of swirling lines to occupy her mind, prevent it from remembering her terror.

"Emily."

The voice was soothing, yet she jumped.

Turning around, she saw a bulky shadow obstructing the door frame. The thing stepped forward into the room, allowing light to display its features. It appeared to be a man, although man was an understatement considering the incredibly large gold-trimmed rune-engraved black armor he was wearing. The little heiress stepped back ever so slowly, unsure of this stranger's intentions.

"Don't worry, I'm not here to hurt you."

The fact that his attributes were hidden by a helmet disturbingly resembling a wolf skull was enough for her not to take the man's words for granted.

"Look, I'm a good friend of your father and I just want to return you to him. He would have come himself, but he got badly injured during his escape from Coldridge Prison."

Emily hesitated for a second, before saying "Prove it."

Despite the helmet, Emily could almost see the smirk as the man said "I wouldn't be against a little hide and seek with you, if it wasn't for the rather inappropriate location."

"That's not sufficient, every castle guards and servants know about that."

"But not everyone know of you having your parents swap clothes for you though it would be, and I quote, 'Funny as hell.'"

"Wait, how did you...?"

"Corvo spilled it out on our last drink night, although he'd prefer not having done so. Now, will you come with me?"

The silent stretched... then Emily nodded slightly.

The armored man extended his gauntlet and gently caught the girl's hand before heading with her toward the staircase.

"I cleared the path to the back exit, we should manage to go out easily. Oh, and don't touch the plasma residues eating at the walls."

Thanks Yggdrasil he had caught the girl's incredulous look through his helmet's back camera, he was sure Corvo would want to see his little princess looking so puzzled. Allowing himself a large grin, he quickly saved the video in his armor's backup memory systems where lay hundred of other files, many of whom were blackmail material. Every 40K Fused Loop he was going through was a blessing and illegally obtained Space Wolf armors, beside being clearly overkill in a baseline run, were useful in _sooooo_ many other ways.

* * *

6.08

* * *

"Corvo."

"Yes?"

"Where are we?"

The question had to be asked, since the two grown-men bodies were now back to their teenage years.

"That's the Hogwarts Express, Samuel."

"Oh, it's that magic school, right?"

"Yep."

"So, what's ahead of us?"

"Good old Voldy. It's gonna be fun." almost giggled the royal bodyguard.

"And after that?"

"I don't know, I didn't ask Harry what was to come, didn't want to spoil the surprise." he answered with a beaming smile.

The boatman which had been about to complain about his Anchor's apparent childishness suddenly went to his knees, quickly catching his head in pain.

"Corvo, I told you to stop pinging from so close. It's making my hackles rise, literally."

"Sorry wolf boy, forgot you were that sensible to the Void. Want to lay low for a while, or you're good to go?"

"I'm fine."

Three heavy pings rushed on them simultaneously.

"Okay, not so much anymore."

"Don't be such a prick, there was no Void in those. Now come on, let's not make them wait."

With that, The two Dunwall loopers walked out of their wagon, completely oblivious of the black fur-covered form sleeping under the seat they had just left.

* * *

6.01 - A long awaited encounter. Also, Hecate can be terrible towards her sisters sometimes... but isn't that what brotherhood really means?

6.02 - Leman Russ can be picky over certain subject. Child kidnapping and threatening is one of them.

6.03 - After the squirrels invasion across Yggdrasil, time for a bee invasion. So many stingers...

6.04 - There, the why of Corvo's shikai activation words and his bankai introduction. By the way, Hakumei means Eclipse and Tabula Rasa is a concept claiming that men build themselves not because of a twisted fate, but through actions and decisions... just what the game mechanics allows. Fitting, isn't it?

6.05 - Don't worry, it's just boat nectar.

6.06 - Corvo can be a bad loser, expecially when it involves a certain jedi knight.

6.07 - Because Samuel has to have some fun from time to time. His armor's depicted after this one : vignette1. wikia .nocookie warhammer40k/images/e/e7/SW_Wolf_ /revision/latest?cb=20120404090427

(please, get rid of the useless spaces around "wikia" and after "nocookie")

6.08 - See you next time for a second Harry Potter Special with Corvo, Samuel and a little black form who could be... basically anyone.


	7. Chapter 7 - Harry Potter Special 2

Hey kids, do you like... magic ? No ? Then what about a little madness ?

* * *

7.01 – (6,08 continuation)

* * *

The train was crowded. Even the hallways were dotted by teenagers, sitting upon their trunks, talking of their last holidays or the king of food they were feeding to their pets. How the sweets cart managed to progress in such a mess was a total mystery.

As for our two visiting loopers, they only made it out of sheer luck. Squeezed between said cart, the wall and a truck crowned by an overprotective and freakishly out-of-his-mind ferret, the honorary Space-Wolf wanted to be trigger-happy with plasma while the Anchor was tempted to Windblast it all to oblivion and Blink the hell out of here, loop-stability be damned.

When the wall suddenly slided sideway–wall which was in fact a door, too bad they didn't know about it before–they both fell face first in the newly opened compartment.

"Hey, is everything alright?" asked a genuinely-concerned bolt-scarred youngster.

Raising from his embarrassing position, Corvo crossed eyes with their savior.

"We're fine." he said, "Thanks Harry."

"How do you know my name?"

Crap, unawake.

"Everybody knows you Potter, that's the privilege of being a Clan Head and torching Voldemort."

Wait, was that …?

A huge tension flooded the entire wagon, but the boy in the middle of it all seemed totally unfazed.

"Name's Draco Malfoy, nice to meet you." he smiled, extending his hand.

"Yeah … I know of you. What is the son of the infamous Lucius Malfoy doing in the same cart as Harry Potter?"

"Trying to make new friends. The other purebloods were becoming unbearable and I was feeling Loopy."

"I see..." stretched the assassin, finally accepting the handshake.

"We were ourselves out of it, and went looking for an Anchor." added Samuel.

"Well, you know us but we don't. You are?"

"Corvo Attano."

"Samuel Beechworth, nice to meet you all."

"Nice to meet you too. I'm Hermione, Hermione Granger. And this is Ron Weasley."

"H... hi."

The red-head seemed a little shy, or rather intimidated. Must have been a leftover ghostly feeling due to the huge killing intent that Corvo had released on the Malfoy heir earlier.

Said blonde next put both hands on the two loopers' shoulders and beamed a 'too bright to be true' smile.

"Come, I want to talk for a minute."

* * *

"So, I guess you've come to Hogwarts already?"

"I haven't." answered the boatman.

"But I have." said the assassin.

"I should have known from your hostility. Bet my unawake self was an ass."

"Yeah, a massive one. But not to me."

"Potter only huh? Then you didn't involve yourself in the course of events."

"I did, but I hung you on top of the school at your first outburst. Then it went smoothly."

"You hung me?"

"By your robes, for a few hours, and there was no proofs that I was involved. You decided I was not worth the risk."

"... Not cool, but I suppose it was a necessary evil. Still, being left alone for seven years just with that, that's probably a record..."

"No, I only did one year. You see, I have that mark that's fueling itself on whatever's on range and mhmfff."

Samuel had just put his hand over the talkative Void envoy's mouth, efficiently shutting his Anchor.

"Sorry to interrupt you, but Ron and Hermione both seemed unawake to me. So who were the other pings from?"

"Fred and George, Ron's brothers and two years our seniors if we're talking baseline. They're also… peculiar."

Still muffled by Samuel's hand, Corvo could only rolled his eyes. Peculiar was an understatement.

"Is that good, or bad?"

"It depends, do you like pranks?"

"We spend our loops ending a coup in a plague-eaten city ruled by egotistical maniacs."

"I'll take that as a yes. Then don't fret, you'll do lovely with the twins. Now please, release your friend, he seems to grow impatient."

"Oh, sure. Sorry Corvo."

"It's fine. So Malfoy, you're working on any plot at the moment? Anything that we can help you with?"

"Not at the moment, sorry. I was merely planning to try another run in Ravenclaw and just go with the flow."

"What about the twins?"

"_They_'re definitely planning something. With them, every loop simply turns into a giant plot. Just be sure not to be at its receiving end, and you'll be fine. Now let's go, we're almost at Hogwarts and the Golden Trio must begin to wonder what we're up to."

"And from what Harry told me, it's not a good thing."

"No, it's not." shivered Draco, reminiscing all the stuff that tends to happen with those three.

* * *

"Don't take too much time, we're almost there." Hermione chirped happily, before exiting the cart.

With the girl gone, they all began to suit up. Robes may not be a practical choice, but they were tradition and the magical world was attached to that... maybe too much.

"So," suspiciously asked Ron, "what was all that with Malfoy?"

"He just wanted to know which house we were going for." Samuel responded on the same whispering tone.

"He told you how great it is in Slytherin, right?"

"No. As a matter of fact, he's aiming for Ravenclaw."

"WHAT?"

"Lower your voice Weasley." calmly asked the local looper.

"B... but, you can't aim for Ravenclaw."

The blond raised an eyebrow.

"Why?"

"You're a Malfoy. Everyone knows that Malfoys go to Slytherin."

"Well, I'll still be Ravenclaw."

"But... your father..."

"Has no such rights over my life or control over the school as to force a house on me."

His eyes were defying anybody to say otherwise.

"Cut him some slack Ron, Draco's a good guy." said Harry, a small and somehow apologetic smile on his face.

"Thanks Potter."

"You're welcome. But, why Ravenclaw?"

The local looper proceeded to explain the whys of his choice to the unawake boy-who-lived and the Dunwall visitors. The ambiance got warmer, except for Ron who proceeded to sulk in a corner.

Soon, they were on their way to the school, guided by professor Minerva McGonagall.

* * *

Daud awoke some two hours after that. "awoke", minor a, as he had in fact Awoken at the same time as his two fellow Dunwall loopers.

But contrarily to those two, he knew anything about Yggdrasil or fused loops. It was his very first Awakening. Hence why coming out of his slumber to suddenly find himself in an awfully small and furry body was too much for him.

He screamed.

Scratch that, he yelped.

* * *

"_Hello again, child of the Void. Looks like you had fun in Slytherin, too bad that mark of yours crashed our loop. Anyway, which house will it be this time? Gryffindor, to see the other side of the coin? Or will you listen to me and go to Hufflepuf?"_

"Neither." mentally replied the royal guard, "I'll go with Ravenclaw, if that's alright with you."

"_Following the Malfoy kid huh? You don't have to be so wary of him, he's become loyal and trustful since he's started looping. Aaaah, but you know that. You've learn to read people almost as perfectly as I read minds. You just want to get to know him then? Well, good luck in _RAVENCLAW!_"_

Said table erupted into cheers.

* * *

"_Haaa, a new one. Welcome mister Beechworth, to the Hogwarts loop. So you're from Dunwall, just like mister Attano, you're having it as bad as him with mind readings. Ok, I'll admit that you're a little harder to reach, must be your conditioning. Anyway, on to your sorting. You're so much like your Anchor... a cunning mind but no desire to lead, a mindset more fitting a war strategist than a scientist, experiences and skills shaping you into an outstanding soldier and most of all, a heart belonging to a man loyal beyond reason. As you'd even face the Chaos Gods for your friends, I'd set you in Hufflepuf. Now tell me Samuel Beechworth, loyal marine and honorary Space Wolf… which house will it be?"_

* * *

Rushing into the corridors, the young wizard finally saw who he was looking for.

"Excuse me, Professor?"

"Yes, Mister Beechworth?" replied the staff member.

"I was wondering if I was allowed to take a pet to the dormitories."

"Well, you most certainly are. Why ask?"

"The fat lady in the painting doesn't want to move aside."

"Really? Well, let's talk to her. Don't worry, you'll keep your pet, I'll see to it."

"Thanks, Professor McGonagall."

* * *

A lone fox was never at risk. Those beasts were known tricksters, knew how to protect themselves and had one of the best instinct among non-magical creatures.

Except for ones who weren't a proper vulpine, just some nobody stuck as one.

Daud started to walk toward the Forbidden Forest.

Yep, no mystical instinct there.

* * *

"My words are finals," grimaced the Fat Lady, "I'm not allowing that inside."

"But..."

"Mister Beechworth, what is _this_?" asked frenetically the witch.

"That's Fluffly. Cute, ain't he?"

"Where… where did you find him?"

"By the third floor. I heard him whine behind a door."

_BARK._

"I know, I just couldn't let you in that awful room, right?"

"... Mister Beechworth, why not take your pet out for a walk? In the meantime, I'll go get the Headmaster and settle things with him."

"Fine by me. What do you say Fluffy? Want to race?"

_BARK._

Running after the massive Cerberus, Samuel pouted.

"Hey, get back here. You're cheating."

Looking from nearby, Corvo tilted his head and asked "Will he gets to keep him?"

"I don't see why not, Potter and I did." smirked Malfoy.

* * *

The witch frantically stormed into the already shaken room.

Shaken by nothing less than a level 7, if not a level 8 earthquake on the Richter scale. And since the room was underground, the whole school had had a rough time.

Hence why every student she had left in the great hall was still talking loudly, sobbing, crying or undergoing another activity of the sort, pretty much the same as the young ones in there.

"Enough."

Nothing.

"Students, please."

Still nope.

"SILEEENCE."

And silence fell. It was hard to yell at children who had just lived a traumatic experience, but it had to be done.

"Can someone tell me what happened in that dungeon?"

A brave Gryffindor (pleonasm maybe, but it _is_ worth mentioning) took it upon herself to explain what she could to her Head of House.

"Professor Snape was brewing a potion and... he must have made a mistake because... the whole thing blew up."

And as if a dam had been broken, voices flowed out.

"There was smoke everywhere."

"And dust."

"And that weird ooze."

"Yeah, it smelled awful."

"It still does, you've got some on you."

"Hew."

It indeed smelled awful, but that wasn't helping.

"Children please, what of professor Snape?"

"He was eying his cauldron..."

"... very carefully..."

"... when the thing went boom..."

"... so he must be..."

"...gone."

Silence fell once again, a sad (if only a little) silence.

Professor McGonagall was wondering how she would bring the shocking news to Dumbledore. The young sorcerers were smirking evilly as any good-mannered Gryffindor should when in such a situation. As for Samuel, he was thankful for the dust covering the real event, as well as reminding himself to never let anyone confiscate him another plasma gun ever again. Some jackass just couldn't handle such a relic with the necessary care.

* * *

"Troll… in the dungeons …thought you ought to know."

His message delivered, the turbaned professor passed out.

"There he goes again." snickered the Dunwall Anchor.

Draco's only comment was a smirk of his own.

The two loopers then sighed in unison when, as Heads of houses and prefects started to yell and tried to get students in line, two-third of the golden trio sneaked out to find the oblivious missing part.

"Should we help them?"

"Nah, it's fine."

"You sure?"

The Malfoy heir grinned. He was.

Now that he was allowed around school, Fluffy spent most of his days playing with his Gryffindor friend and Cerberus could only play so much before feeling sleepy. Matter-of-factly, the girls' bathroom was one of the few big enough places where he liked to nap. Now, the fun part was that Cerberus had an excellent sense of smell, on top of being reeeeally territorial.

That troll was done for the count.

* * *

"Albus."

"Minerva, welcome. Cookie?" asked the headmaster.

"No thanks"

"So, what brings you today?"

"It's about young Mister Beechworth."

He sighed. Loudly.

"... What happened this time?"

"He turned Bathsheda into a wolf pup."

"Professor Babbling? Why?"

"It appears that she intended to take Mister Attano to her Ancient Rune class, again."

"So he protected his friend."

"Indeed."

"Right... but why a pup?"

"I don't know. Mister Attano and him certainly are... unique."

Dumbledore thought a whole second about those two boys and the weird situations coming to life around them.

"That they are."

* * *

"I'm so, so sorry. He shouldn't have done that."

"Don't worry about it young lad, it should go off fairly soon."

On the stretcher, the current DADA professor was whining softly, covered from head to toe in a weird goo.

In the stands, two Quidditch enthusiasts were tittering. That dumbass had tried yet again to jinx Potter's broom, and since Snape had gone boom, they had been prepared to counteract the spell themselves.

And then, the guy had been licked.

Licked.

In the broken rows where he had seated, Fluffy was still slobbering, totally oblivious to the stares he was getting.

* * *

In one of the darkest corner of the Forbidden Forest, a black fox was shivering. Stuck between two thick roots, he whimpered as an "oh-my-lord-that-number-is-high"-pounds spider walked to him. He closed his verticaly slitted eyes.

Praying and begging the Void for its forgiveness was stupid, but he didn't have anything else up his slee... paws anymore.

* * *

In the dark of the night, a lone figure tried once again to bypass safety measures.

It shouldn't be that hard, now that the dumb puppy had been allowed to roam the school grounds.

The door closed loudly and something fell on the shadowy man's shoulder. A sticky substance which he knew too well. He looked up, and up, and up...

One, two, three, four, five... six eyes. Sleepy and angry eyes.

A few weeks latter, the school year was over.

After Snape's rushed funeral and professor Quirell's mysterious disappearance, the school program was way lighter and everybody's mood lightened.

All in all, it was a good year.

* * *

7.01 – Yep, the small furry thing is Daud looping and he's having a ball… which will soon be a silk cocoon.

The twins may be absent for now, but they are very much awake and plotting in the dark. Don't worry, It'll be revealed by next chapter.

Ravens, wolfs… isn't there a pattern in the Dunwall loopers' transfiguration spells?

Also, it's unrelated but I was planning to have Snape mix a plasma cartridge in his potion. But I then learnt that plasma in 40K wasn't working as in Fallout. No ammo, just a small sun/black hole core-thingy in a thousand year old tech. So yeah, I just had it backfire because of his negligence.

Anyway, that damn chapter is getting out of my hands. There are dozens of plot bunnies running around the studio and they already ate my net. Damn fluffy things. So I'll cut now and give you all a rendez-vous by next chapter. Just that one more and we'll be done with the Hogwarts's fused loop. Then we'll go with small snips again.

See you soon.


	8. Chapter 8 - Harry Potter Special 3

Brace yourself, summer's coming!

So here's some ice cream ... ok not really, it's just a new chapter.

* * *

8.01

* * *

Summer vacations. A huge, and probably the best part of school. For the kids anyway, as it acts as an outlet for their needs to feel free, to run away from classes and homeworks.

Magic kids studying in Hogwarts weren't foreign to this phenomenon, since it was a way for them to reconnect with their family and the mundane world. Well, maybe not that last part for purebloods, but nobody's perfect.

The true problem was for the two visiting loopers. After all, it was just weird to live with a family they knew nothing about … hence why they spent more time roaming the streets together, either training away from spying eyes or learning everything they could about this world, raiding the library and exploring muggle and magical Britain.

Hence when the time finally came to travel back to Hogwarts, it wasn't all that surprising for Draco to learn from the royal bodyguard that Samuel and him had already covered the incoming year's teachings, and a whole bunch of mundane subjects such as mechanics, physics and bioscience.

"So, what are you gonna do now?" asked the Ravenclaw while putting his robes on.

"About what?" replied his classmate and temporary Anchor.

His puzzled look showed it all … he really hadn't understood the question.

Draco sighed loudly.

"What I mean is … now that you've basically learnt the whole program, how are you planning to stay awake in class?"

"I'll manage."

"I give you a week before you're bored and do something stupid."

"And that's when I remind you that it's my second loop here. I already had to hide my boredom last year, all year long, I can do it again."

"Yeah, sure." smirked the blond.

"What?"

"I always appreciate a good show."

"What does that mean?"

"Seriously Corvo, some days you were containing your yawns so hard that I was almost expecting your eyes to pop out of your skull."

Corvo was unamused.

"Oh, I know. Let's rather talk of that time with Snape and the octopus, or that other one when you entered the match-to-needle transfiguration' class with a firefighter's uniform."

"Stop, you win." rapidly conceded the assassin to his foe.

"As usual." bragged the Malfoy heir.

Unable to let such a comment pass, but mostly just out of curiosity, the Anchor asked one more tiny little question.

"What about you?"

"Hm?"

"'Must have learnt it all eons ago. Hell, you can probably teach all of Hogwarts' classes better than the teachers."

"True."

"So how do _you_ stay awake?"

Perfectly legitimate question. The answer however was … unexpected.

"I don't."

"What?"

"I'm either sleeping, or absent."

"You skip?"

"No reason to go, right?"

"I guess … but you never missed a day during last year."

"A new looper is a sufficient reason."

With the unawake Draco, such an amicable comment would have been really surprising, but Corvo had learnt to trust and appreciate the looping one.

"Thanks."

Yep, 100% genuine gratitude there.

* * *

Summer vacations, the only real part of school that ever mattered. Except for visiting loopers currently trapped on the school grounds. Stuck in a small vulpine body, itself stuck in a small web cocoon, Daud was contemplating his life choices.

For several weeks now, he had fed on passing-by rats, insects, and drank nothing but morning dew. With each passing day, he was seeing his end at the mandibles of his captors grows closer.

Had he been human, he would have yelled his vow to change, to never repeat the wrongs of his past. As he was, he could only swear it to the gods above and yelp pathetically while licking his bruised furry body.

The fearsome and fearless murderer had disappeared. All that was left was a broken man.

* * *

The thestral biting his hand hadn't been an agreeable experience, but the girl Draco had told him about was at fault. Luna had came straight at him when he had been petting the skeleton-horse and proceeded to ask out-loud if looping was an enjoyable experience. Being aware of her abilities was one thing, experiencing them was entirely another; one that had led him to jump, startling the horse and getting his hand bitten.

Then that damn Sorting Hat had spent five minutes talking openly with the Loop-Aware little blonde, mocking him and Samuel in front of the whole hall. There would be rumours and gossips for months.

And now that she had been sorted in Ravenclaw, he would have to handle the little seer on a daily basis.

That year was beginning brightly.

* * *

The second-year Gryffindor exited the great hall and travel back to his tower. Upon entering into the common-room, he came face-to-face with the human equivalent of a little photon pile with a camera. He looked really excited.

"Hey Colin, what's up?"

"Hi Samuel. Ginny heard from her brothers that a giant cerberus used to roam the school grounds and a seven-year just told me that he had been moved near Hagrid's cottage. I'm going to take a few pictures."

"Oh, you mind if I come along?"

It was enough to put the first-year on a sugar-rush.

"You like photography?"

His eyes were twinkling faster than Dumbledore's.

"No, but my transfiguration essays insist on going awry and with my remedial classes, I haven't seen Fluffy for almost a week."

"What's wrong with your transfigurations?"

"Too long to explain. Let's just say that everything is more furry than necessary."

"Okay."

There were on their seventh staircase when Colin asked "Who's Fluffy?"

"The cerberus." replied neutrally the boatboy.

Colin stopped dead on his tracks.

* * *

Corvo was bored.

Utterly and completely bored.

Being locked up in the ravens' tower to avoid the Jessamine lookalike wasn't helping.

Good thing for him that two blondes had just entered the common-room.

"She's still after you?" asked the female.

Smiling behind Luna, Draco didn't bother to comment, for he knew that asking such a thing was useless. Ravenclaw's bust floating around the room was a pretty clear message by itself.

"Care to enlighten me as to why she's stalking you?"

The royal guard shrugged.

"She wants to study my mark."

"And doesn't take no for an answer." understood Malfoy.

"Why don't you tell her that Sidy is on a vacation? That should do it, don't you think?" asked the dreamy voice of the second blonde.

The Dunwall looper would never know how she had chosen to refers to The Outsider by such a nickname.

"She'll never believe that's just a birthmark. I would have to explain what the mark is and what it allows. How do you expect her, or the rest of the staff, to react to the fact that I got marked with a direct link to a deity-like being from another dimension? Even you would have problems to accept it, no offence."

"None taken." she beamed.

"So, what're you going to do?"

"No idea. What would you do?"

"I'd probably just send a shadow clone, or perform old-school meditation to pass time. Maybe focus on another project of mine, or go for a simple use of illusion magic when I would be too tired of it to mind."

"What kind of illusion?" asked Corvo, interested.

"AoE spells, like some sort of notice-me-not, maybe a little doppelgänger-like after-image to lure her away. Else, just a compulsion charm to convince her to leave me alone."

"You said AoE?"

"It stands for Area of effect." enlightened Luna.

"Exact, they're zone spells."

"So you'd be targeting the whole classroom?"

"Nope, the whole castle. Beside, it's not that bad. The spell only failed for a few decades and now it's flawless."

Corvo thought it over …

He had no chakra yet, and was way too bored to meditate. But the after-image and the compulsion … yeah, he could work with all that.

"Can you teach me?" he asked.

Drago smiled warmly. "Sure."

* * *

In the deep shadows of the Forbidden Forest, a small acromantula crawled toward her food. Her fangs began to pierce the cocoon and her mouth watered.

Sadly for her, the little pest was lively enough to claw her face and flee the scene.

She would later vent her anger on her cousin, another spider twice her size that would quickly eat her. Truly, life was gloomy and short for dark creatures.

* * *

The Halloween feast was promising good atmosphere, friendly chatter and great food. The fact that Flich's hellspawn of a cat was supposed to be petrified by the Basilisk on that same night was of no incidence.

"So, when will it go FUBAR exactly?" asked Corvo.

"Just after the feast, when the trio will come across the first message." answered Draco.

"What do you want to do?"

"What do you say we open the sink to the Chamber when everybody's around?"

"That would work, but what about …"

His thought process was interrupted by the sound of a huge moving object impacting on the castle walls.

"What the?"

Running to the nearest window, they came across the mind-blowing show of a grinning Samuel, riding on Fluffy's middle head. The three-headed dog kept on bouncing on the outer walls, growling menacingly.

Two minutes later, every professor and student in the building saw the beast put its heads in the newly opened hole and rip a thousand-year old lethal snake out of it. It then turned around and trotted joyfully toward the forest with its new toy.

* * *

"That"

"was"

"AWESOME." ended the twins in a weird canon-like talk.

"Forge, Gred." greeted Malfoy.

"Hey Draco."

"Corvo."

"Did you congratulate our..."

"young protégé yet?"

"After all..."

"he got rid of..."

"Salazar's beast..."

"in less than five minute..."

"on his first try."

They seemed proud.

"Protégé?"

Nodding, the twins carried on with their shared talk.

"We'd like to..."

"make him..."

"an honorary Marauder."

Draco whined "Oh Yggdrasil, not another one."

"Is it that terrible?" wondered Dunwall's protector.

"One word, cheesecake."

"What?"

"Trust me, you don't want to know."

"Why wouldn't he?" smirked Fred, or was it Gorge?

"It was one of our best prank."

"Are you crazy? No, don't answer that. Seriously, that was so unnatural that even Luna went insane. The loop crashed three times in a row."

"As my brother said, one of our best." beamed Gorge, or maybe Fred.

"And you want to bring Samuel in that kind of endeavours? As his Anchor, can't I put a veto on that?"

"Damn …"

"you can."

That really surprised Draco.

"Since when?"

"Twilight threatened us when we invited Nix."

The two Weasleys looked defeated.

"Well brother of mine"

"I guess we'll have"

"to finish this ourselves."

"Finish what?"

Their mouths turned from a small smile to an evil-looking smirk.

* * *

Hogwarts, seventh floor, Room of Requirement.

The whole chamber was filled to the brim with what looked like rune-enhanced computers and somehow, a bunch of twins clones.

Draco, Corvo and Samuel felt hideous headaches rising.

"So, why did you call us here for?"

"We wanted..."

"to present you..."

"our brand new..."

"Weasley's Wizarding Wisels' product."

"What is it?"

"A new way to deal with this year..."

"and take a little laugh out of it..."

"without any effort."

At this, one of the twins, or was it a clone, walked up to them and showed what he was carrying."

"The journal?"

"What's that?" asked Samuel.

"One of Voldemort' soul-anchors. What did you do with that?"

"Well, it's funny." started Fred.

"We spent last year..."

"coding a little program..."

"You know, just a..."

"little question/answer…"

"IA thing..."

"we based on Applebloom's design."

"Why an IA?"

"You know how Voldy's..."

"using his journal to..."

"talk to and possess..."

"little Ginny, right Corvo?"

The assassin nodded before adding "Malfoy told me about it, yeah."

"Well, we thought that…"

"if he was allowed..."

"to mess with our sis' mind…"

"why shouldn't we..."

"mess with his ?"

They brought diagrams and magic circles out of thin air. Draco seemed to understand them. The visitors were even more lost than before.

"As you can see..."

"we imprinted the journal with the IA..."

"which we programmed..."

"to never stop talking..."

"ever..."

"so that Voldy's stuck with it…"

"for the whole loop."

Understanding downed on the Dunwall loopers.

"He's walking in circles."

"Yep."

"He'll go crazy."

"Pretty much." they beamed.

* * *

The year ended smoothly. A lone fox somehow managed to survive in the wild forest. The other loopers monitored Voldy's insult-filled rantings toward the IA, and on the last day of school, right before every student hopped on the Express, fed the damn notebook to a starving Acromantula.

Then the loop crashed.

* * *

8.02

* * *

"How did that happen?" asked Séléné, lifting an eyebrow.

Hecate sighed, turned toward her office door and yelled.

"HEPHAESTUUUUS!"

* * *

8.01 - Corvo is annoyed, Samuel is acting childish, Daud is freaked out and broken ... perfect.

Anyway, it's the last time I'm making two years in a row like that. I do like huge snips, but there's just too much to take into account there.

8.02 - You seriously thought that it was that simple? Come on, as if a little divine patch could seriously temper writing-fever. Loops will keep on going awry and I promise I'll keep on messing with the admins.

See you soon, thanks for reading.


	9. Chapter 9

What's that? More loops? And boat discrimination?

Sure, why not.

* * *

9.01

* * *

Things had been weird lately.

Weirder than a time loop stabilized over multiple realities by a divine tree, that is.

Ever since that second Hogwarts loop had ended up in yet another unexpected crash, Dunwall's baseline had started to… derail.

Every single Whaler dying without Corvo or Samuel's assistance, gangs or conspirators vanishing in the dead of night, entire blocks cleaned of weepers and rats…

Judging from the frequency, it was no variants, nor a visiting looper influencing events. That left only two explanations. Either the entire loop was somehow destabilizing, or someone had changed. New Looper? Loop-aware entity? Maybe a Dreamer?

It wasn't important, Corvo had decided that whoever or whatever it may be, that person/thing deserved a 'thank you' card. His job was less stressful like that, and he got to spend more time with Emily.

But in order to offer the card (one with a small red bow around and a sketch of his mask on the front, made with a green pen because it soothed the nerves.), he had to know who or what to deliver it to.

And that would be tricky.

Well, he would have to be just as much.

* * *

In another part of town, a rather renowned assassin was ending his own followers' lives, crying all the while.

It may be right… it may be wrong… he wouldn't know.

But he hadn't tried this combination yet.

And he had to.

Tears kept on falling as blood coated the walls.

* * *

9.02

* * *

Corvo awoke in his cell, a small smile on his lips.

He'd been trying to find a proper method to identify the unknown third person for dozen of loops now. Reiatsu sensing only went so far, and Samuel hadn't smuggled enough cameras from 40K loops to cover the whole city… yet.

Thank Yggdrasil for fused loops, he finally had his method.

Crow clones had been a specialty of the man he'd replaced in the Elemental Nations, one Itachi Uchiha according to the O7 Naruto Uzumaki and his friend Kurama. The information gathering potential was so high, that any avian jokes he would have to endure from Samuel would be worth it.

Thirty minutes later, he had a huge flock of ravens spying for him in every districts.

Another five minutes and his constable had three possible suspects with unusual behaviors.

When he exited Coldridge Prison, Corvo had finally set an appointment with an old acquaintance.

* * *

Daud, The Knife of Dunwall, master assassin and bearer of the Outsider's mark, was contemplating his hands. Not for the first time.

Those were the hands of a killer, he had drenched them in the blood of the guilty and innocent alike, in a mad attempt to satisfy his greed.

Justice? Peace?

That was meaningless.

He'd wanted money, more than anything.

And what had he got?

Regrets after Empress Kaldwin's murder, more regrets when Billie had betrayed him, and a sword to the gut, courtesy of Corvo Attano.

But it hadn't been enough, he'd also gained furry forepaws in place of hands, enough traumatic experiences of pain, loneliness and starvation to last him thousands of nightmares, and an aversion for everything even distantly related to spiders.

Thrown back in his body, traumatized and desperately looking for redemption, Daud had then tried. He'd done dozens of different scenarios, alternatively sparring or killing the various madmen controlling Dunwall, trying to get it just right, trying to use his sword for others instead of himself.

To no avail.

He always opened his eyes to meet the cooling ones of Empress Kaldwin, guilt eating him from the inside out.

He was stuck in an endless loop, fueling his nightmares with each iteration.

"Daud? You okay?"

Steel met steel.

He'd been startled by the voice and attacked on instinct, but his adversary was skilled enough to block his strike.

It wasn't surprising, he'd been skilled enough to kill him after all.

Oh, that he hadn't tried yet. Let Corvo cut him open once again…

And he had to.

Well, no time like the present.

"Corvo, I'm glad you came. All this blood, all those screams… it's becoming to much to bear. But you're here now… it may be over soon."

He dropped his sword, removed his reinforced coat to fully expose his vital organs and relaxed his stance.

"Do your worst."

"Wh… what?"

* * *

Something was wrong with Daud, that much had been clear when his crow had seen him cutting through his own men.

But that was just too much. He was welcoming death, even expecting him to deliver the fatal blow? Suicide by Corvo Attano, that was his plan?

"Put your vest back on, I'm not here to kill you."

"You're… your not?"

Great, now he was puzzled.

"No Daud, I'm here to help. I know you. In fact, I've known a whole lot of you, and you would never surrender your life so easily. Something happened, something big enough to scare you. And I happen to know what caused it."

Nothing? Not a single reaction?

So he was giving him the silence treatment?

Well, Daud had always been a listener. He was way too analytic if you asked him.

"Two things could be happening, both induced by the same cause. You may have memories of events yet to come and other worlds, this is known as Dreaming, capital d."

Still nothing?

"If that's not the case, then you may have been living a certain period of your life multiple times over."

Slightly narrowed eyes.

Well, Daud was looping.

"This phenomenon is called Looping, capital L, which would make you a looper. Both Looping and Dreaming are the result of a cosmic event and yes, I did say cosmic. Now, stay with me on this. You know that multiple dimensions exist in our world, namely our own and the Void where the Outsider and the Leviathan dwell. But what you don't know is that our whole reality exists alongside others in a multiverse. Like with the Void, this multiverse house higher beings called Administrators or Admins, whose entire job is to take care of the many realities. They're helped in this task by a device called Yggdrasil, the World Tree. So when something went wrong with the Tree, the Admins did the only move available. They put the worlds on hold."

"Time loops."

"Time loops, yes. They started small, with just seven realities, adding more as they fixed whatever happened to Yggdrasil. Now there are hundreds of world running."

* * *

Time loops, it made sense now.

Not that he like it. He truly wanted to have nothing to do with the endless guilt and suffering.

But he wasn't that lucky.

"Will it end?"

"Someday, yes. But it most assuredly won't be tomorrow."

"…"

Not the answer he'd expected.

"I know it may sounds awful, especially with a loop as shitty as ours, but please, take a leap of faith. Figuratively, of course, you're not an Assassin yet – don't ask."

"…"

"Look, I'll finish the Welcome-to-the-Multiverse speech. You may curse me and the gods after that, okay?"

Well… he had nothing to loose. Except time, but that wouldn't matter anymore.

"… fine, do your thing."

"Good. Now, new Loopers need a little vocabulary to properly understand the phenomenon. Let's start with the Anchors. When the Admins activate a new loop, they need a fixed point in this reality. Someone sane enough to understand and keep up with the situation. The seven primary worlds are anchored by the Original Seven: Ranma Saotome, Lina Inverse, Shinji Ikari, Harry Potter, Naruto Uzumaki, Ichigo Kurosaki and Usagi Tsukino. Many followed. For our world, denomination Dunwall Loops, I was made Anchor by our Admin Hecate, goddess of the new moon, crossroads, witchcraft and necromancy. She sure loves her title."

Corvo was considered to be sane?

Then this Hecate had to be crazy enough to compete against the Outsider.

"For a loop to run properly, at least one Anchor must be present and Awake. Capital A, it means that you remember your past experiences. You also get an automatic memory feedback for the loop you enter. Remember to check them every time, as some things can vary and you never know what you may find."

Variations?

Memory check?

"Also, if several Anchors and Loopers are living the same loop, they can undergo an Awakening at different times during said loop. We may both enter a loop at the exact same moment, or you may awoke to find that I was already around for weeks, months, maybe years, with your unawake self running around doing whatever this you would do."

'This' him? Right, Corvo had said something about knowing a lot of him.

Other versions then... he wondered what they were like.

Wait, if he could awoke several years down the road, it should also mean that…

"You will spend entire loops alone."

"Oh, I already do. Once, I was talking with Samuel – you know Samuel? No? Samuel Beechworth, the boatman moving me around? Well, he's looping anyway. – so we were there, talking about… you're better of not knowing, but the thing's that we got cut up when the loop shutted down. Crash, it happens. Anyway, when Samuel dragged me in the Hound Pit to continue this discussion, I'd totally lost track of it. It hadn't even been an hour to him, but I hadn't seen Samuel in eight loops."

"That must be…"

"Hard? Lonely? It can be, yes, but I'm keeping myself occupied. There was that one time… an unawake Samuel had this sweet coal-propelled Amaranthe. So I grabbed a couple of goats, a pot of honey and two-thousand sheet of carbon paper and… You know what, forget I said anything. And don't ever mention that to Samuel, thank you."

What could he have possibly done with… No, he didn't want to know.

Corvo was definitely not sane.

"Anyway, where was I?"

"Anchor are always Awake."

"Right. Next comes the Baseline. It's our loop's original setting. If everything happens like it happened the first time, congratulation, you've just gone Baseline. But that's boring, so you're free to mess around. And sometimes, you don't even have to, because the loop is a variant, and thus already messed up. People with their moral code switched, gender switched, roles switched? That's a variant. The Leviathan is replaced by a giant squirrel, the Outsider walks around in bunny slippers? Also variant. Your mark's abilities have unexpected results, because you can swear that your rat summoning just created an angry animated snowman? Probably variant… depends on the snowman though."

"That seems extremely random."

"It is. Some changes are for the best, others turn Dunwall into the ninth level of Hell… As I said, check your in-loop memories. It saves lives."

Memory checks sounded extremely useful suddenly.

"When it's not baseline, nor variant, it has to be a Fused-loop. It's a generic term used when elements or visitors from other realities come to our loop, or when one of us move to another loop. Combine fused-loops and variant, and you'll understand that boredom probably won't be an issue. As they say in the Warehouse, 'Beyond these doors lies endless wonder.'"

An entire multiverse to explore… to forget his guilt…

Those loops may be a good thing in the end.

"To signal that they're Awake and recognize each others, most Loopers use a Ping. It's basically a pulse of energy sent across the world upon awakening. And trust me, it is unmistakable. Here, you feel this?"

"I'm... not sure."

"How about now?"

"Yes, I felt that... it was weird. Did you activate your mark? I felt Void in there."

"I did add a little extra Void, yes. For teaching purposes only, as you're quite familiar with it. You'll learn to ping properly soon enough, and your own 'taint' will fade away. Although a few Loopers tend to… keep spicing their pings up with whatever abilities they possess or encountered in the loops. Most don't bother though, it can have unexpected results and doesn't really help with anything."

"We gain abilities?"

"Oh, we sure do. Loopers always end up with magical signatures from dozens of different magical setups, physical energy such as Ki from fighting oriented loops, sometimes demonic or even draconic energy from yet another loop…"

In Daud's mind, the loops had just gone from "possibly a good thing" to "definitely awesome".

"But again, some loopers just don't ping. For example, Samuel and I usually keep tracks of one another with Space Marine earpieces. He can ping, he just chooses not too, especially at close range. His inner wolf absolutely _hates_ how the Void feels – which is precisely _why _I spike my pings with it, but don't tell him that – and he's wary of similarly disturbing someone by pinging himself."

"Inner wolf?"

"It's a Honorary Space Wolf thing, he always ends up in 40K. You ask him, he explains it better. Anyway, besides the ping, if you see someone produce an object out of thin air, like this–"

A bottle of Gristol cider?

"–then this person has a Subspace pocket and thus is a Looper. You want to keep something from one loop to the next? A specific weapon, a painting, every bottle in the Lord Regent's wine cellar, or a boat maybe? Good news, your soul follows you from loop to loop, so you just have to find a way to put a physical object in it. Well, say hello to your new friend, the Subspace pocket. Sounds weird, I know, but it's damn useful."

It sure sounded like it, yes.

"It takes time to expand, so don't try to bag a whole mansion on your first try. You'll get there someday. Hell, the O7 have entire planets in theirs."

_That_ boggled the mind.

"There, you have it, we've covered everything. I'll give you a guide book and you're good to go. Unless you have questions of course."

"Oh, I do have questions."

"I thought so. Just give me a second to find this stuff… no… not better… where is this coming from? Ah, here it is."

"_'So you're feeling loopy?'_, by Twilight Sparkle?"

"It's a classic, and the last edition… I think."

That would be useful… but was that really a purple pony on the cover?

* * *

9.03

"Corvo?"

"Yes?"

"What am I exactly?"

"No clue. Some king of dog, a feral one. Me?"

"Little blob with a single red eye. And a skull mask."

"Great."

"So… what now?"

"Now I ping and we wait."

Samuel put his paws on his head, bracing himself. Corvo's pings already irked him as a human, he wasn't that eager to find out what it would do now that he was covered in fur.

The royal bodyguard focused on the familiar feeling, added a touch of Void, and released … just to have a wave of moving shadows rush out of his tiny body, staggering Samuel.

"Okay, what was that?"

"That was a Dark Pulse, a Dark-type move."

The newcomer was another creature. Some kind of blue turtle, with a scarf. And he… she… it.. whatever, had just pinged back.

"Hey there, first time as a Pok**é**mon?"

"Pok**é**mon?"

"And that's a yes. I'm Squirtle, Anchor for the Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team loop."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Corvo Attano, Anchor for the Dunwall loop."

"Samuel Beechworth, also from Dunwall. I'd shake your hand but..."

"Won't be easy as a Mightyena, yes."

"A what?"

"Mightyena, and you Corvo are a Duskull. For this loop, you're a Rescue team."

* * *

It had been fun.

Daud had showed up later as an Umbreon, a little freaked out about his new body. Bad experience with foxes, he claimed.

Anyway, spending a loop rescuing Pok**é**mons had been strangely satisfying for the three visitors, counting as a vacation of sort. The few abilitiesthey'd gained had also been most welcomed.

In the end, the only downside turned out to be the "Skullface" nickname Corvo inherited from Daud.

His only comment had been "Still better than being a Murkrow."

He would have never heard the end of that one.

* * *

9.04 – by Leviticus Wilkes

* * *

Emily Kaldwin was confused. Completely and utterly confused.

The former-future empress of the Island Empire, and heir apparent to the throne, had gone directly from the raucous and effecting ceremony of her coronation, Corvo at her side, the people coming forward to pay her homage, to standing innocently around in the palace gardens, waiting for Corvo to come home. Usually, such strange displacement would have left a normal person catatonic. Emily had been through far worse though. But she still wondered 'why'.

"Emily! Emily, Corvo's dingy has just arrived." someone called. Emily started at the voice, before trying to place it. It seemed so familiar…

"MOTHER!"

Empress Jessamine Kaldwin, monarch of the Island Empire, was nearly bowled over by her daughter. She couldn't help the chuckle that escaped. Emily could be so enthusiastic… wait, Emily was crying.

Empress or no, Jessamine instantly settled herself into 'Mom mode'.

"Emily, what's wrong? You didn't hurt yourself, did you?"

Her mind briefly flew back to the plague infesting Dunwall.

"Did you see a rat?" she asked, her concern growing by the minute.

Emily pulled back, hiccuping sobs mixing with tears of joy. Her mother was right here. Alive. It should have been impossible, but it was right in front of her. Could it all have been a dream?

"Emily, Jessamine? Where are you?"

Walking up the promenade of the Imperial Palace, Corvo turned his attention to and fro, but neither hide nor hair of the empress nor her daughter was to be seen.

"Emily? Jessamine?"

"Corvo, welcome home."

Walking out of the garden bushes, Empress Jessamine smiled warmly at her bodyguard. Emily trailed behind her, and without warning launched herself into Corvo's arms. The Anchor of Dunwall laughed cheerfully and wrapped the little girl in a tight embrace.

"Did you miss me?"

Emily looked at Corvo, smiling at her, at her mother, alive and well, and she decided that, perhaps, everything before this truly had been just a dream. Corvo was home, her family was back together.

"I did."

* * *

Hiding silently upon the rooftop, Daud and the Whalers watched the sappy little scene with more than just a little hesitation. The master assassin held up his hand.

"Wait. We'll move once they've reached the gazebo."

"Once who has reached the gazebo?"

Daud turned to his men.

"Once the Empress and –,"

Daud ground to a verbal halt when he took full stock of the slaughter that had been wrought on his men. The assassin who had perpetrated this seemed to smile beneath the skull mask he wore. Daud gulped and pulled out his sword. It was time to…

* * *

Jessamine glanced at Corvo as he suddenly started chuckling.

"Did I missed a joke?"

"No your majesty, I'm merely remembering. My travels were eventful and I'm happy to finally be home. Also, I'm dying for a properly cooked chicken. Can we work out how to deal with the plague indoors? Preferably near the kitchen?"

Jessamine smiled at Corvo and her daughter, whose mouth had started to water at the mention of food.

"Well, it is getting chilly, and I myself am feeling hungry."

On a nearby roof, the masked Samuel decided to go back to the Old Hound. He would drink a toast to reunited families, all around the multiverse.

* * *

9.05

* * *

The assassin was casually walking around the pub, as if he owned the place. He wore a calm aura of cold effectiveness and, somehow, of a barely contained eagerness for blood.

Samuel had found it unnerving at first, but he'd come around. The Blade of Dunwall could be extremely friendly when you had the chance to know him.

"Hey, Daud."

"Samuel. Can I help you?"

"I have a… question that you may have the answer of. You know how Corvo always ping first thing upon awakening, right?"

"I do. What about it? I thought it was common procedure?"

"It is, but his ping is laced with Void and… You know how being a Space Wolf, I have some other senses?"

"I remember Corvo telling me about bio-enhancements, yes."

"Well, I sort of sense the Void… it's unpleasant, trust me. Even more so when I wake up to it."

"Which you do every single time, since Corvo is Anchoring almost every single iteration."

"We really need visiting Anchors… but pretty much, yeah."

"Okay, I get all this. What's your question now?"

"I sensed your ping earlier and… there was no Void in it. But you're marked by the Outsider, right? So here's the question: How did you manage that? How did you produce a basic ping and avoid Void mixing with it? And can you please teach Corvo?"

"I don't really know _how_ I do it. I always found it harder to add effects to a ping, so I stopped trying altogether."

"Harder?"

"Yes, why? Is something wrong?"

* * *

Daud smirked, he could practically hear the cogs turn in Samuel's head.

He had promised to keep quiet about Corvo's deliberate uses of the Void to annoy the boatman. He'd never promised anything about preventing him from figuring it out by himself.

* * *

"**CORVOOOOO!"**

Corvo's head jerked up.

He was on some rooftop in the Estate District, but he'd somehow manage to hear Samuel who'd stayed at the Pub.

Oops, his friend had apparently discovered something.

Could it be about the Amaranthe ending on top of Kingsparrow's lighthouse? Maybe he'd found out about the time he'd charmed it to always drift slightly to starboard? Or that funny loop where Granny Rags had controlled a giant kraken, whose life had been ended prematurely by a certain boat loaded with explosives?

Bah, he would figure it out later. Fon now, he wanted to see how the Boyles would react to a masked pirate captain crashing through their front doors with his vessel, strangely named 'Definitely-not-the-Amaranthe'.

* * *

9.06 – by Leviticus Wilkes

* * *

Emily Kaldwin was scared. Completely and utterly scared.

Her mom had been killed again, she had been kidnapped, again, locked in the Golden Cat ever since, again, and she'd been told by that mean Madame Prudence that Corvo had been sent to jail.

AGAIN!

Alright, Emily was beyond scared: she was absolutely terrified.

The heiress apparent tried to think clearly as she contemplated her contradictory memories. Failing that (it was somewhere between, 'Here in this awful place again' and, 'What should I do?' that her mind gave out), Emily had dissolved into quiet sobbing.

Had she done this? Was she supposed to be kidnapped? Was it the work of The Outsider? Was everything a dream? Was any of this real? Was she responsible for this?

Emily's mind stuck on that idea. Was she the one who was changing history? Did she cause this? Was this her fault? These unanswered questions spiraled inside of Emily's mind like a spring razor, chewing away at any calm and shielding from the terror she may have had.

"Emily."

The voice was calm, yet she jumped.

Standing in the shadows of the room, stood a man. Tall, ornately dressed, and very proper looking. Yet, something seemed wrong about him. Almost as if he was outside the world's confines…

"Emily Kaldwin, was a strange hand fate has dealt you."

Emily stepped backwards away from the strange man.

"Who... who are you?"

The man smiled and left the shadows... or maybe, the shadows left him.

"I'm the sort to start a fire just to watch the world burn. But I'm also the sort who doesn't like it when the powerful lord over the powerless. So let's play a game."

"A... a game?"

The man smiled down at Emily. It was about then that Emily realized that his feet weren't touching the ground.

"Yes. A game."

Searing pain scorched the back of Emily's left hand, branding her. She didn't need to see what the mark was: she had seen it before, on Corvo's hand.

"You're the Outsider."

The Outsider smiled wickedly at her.

"Very astute miss Kaldwin. I give you my mark, to make things a bit more... interesting. What you do with it though, that is up to you."

Emily glanced down at the still faintly warm mark on her hand.

"What am I supposed to do?"

The Outsider looked at her, and then leaned forward.

"What would your father do?"

Emily stared at the being for a few more minutes before grabbing a leg from her bed. The wooden leg, sour with rot, broke from the frame easily enough. Now armed with her rudimentary club, Emily faced the door and took a deep breath. She held up her hand, and willed the door to explode. A bolt of shadowy tendrils shot from her hand and into the door. Emily stared at it for the full five milliseconds she could, before being flung forward.

With an almighty crash, Emily burst through the door and into the hallway beyond.

The Outsider walked up beside Emily, clapping lightly.

"That, I must say, was dramatic. And that"–The Outsider pointed at a prostitute down the hall.–"is the alarm."

"SHE'S ESCAPING!" the prostitute screamed.

Emily stared at the fleeing woman before her own instinct to run hit her. She turned and ran down the hall, grabbing for the first door she could and forcing it open. This room, unlike hers, had an unbarred window, needing only a latch for security.

Emily quickly scramble onto the ledge and looked down.

"Looking down is a bad idea! You should try looking up sometimes, it really puts things into perspective." the Outsider said as he lazily floated by. Upside down of course.

"There she is!" a guard screamed from the cobblestone road far below. Several more guards ran out, some large, some tall, all armed, and many looming ready for a scrap.

Someone came to their senses at that moment though.

"That girl. She looks like Emily Kaldwin, the princess!"

He was promptly shot in the face.

The guards then turned as one to Emily, who had to act fast.

She did the first thing that came to her mind.

"Look, the Outsider!"

The guards, and the Outsider, all stopped and stared, only now realizing each other's presences. The eldrich creature finally burst out into grand, full laughter after a few minutes of tense silence.

"Oh, you Attanos. So much fun, just so much fun."

The men got over it and a bullet cracked the brick next to Emily's head. She shrieked and ran along the ledge as fast as possible, more bullets trying to end her life. Only pure luck made it so that the guards ran out of bullets before Emily ran out of ledge.

But run out of ledge she did, and now Emily was on a dead end with several very angry, very dangerous men, all reloading their guns. The Outsider appeared next to her, casually leaning against the building face.

"Quite the predicament you're in, isn't it Emily?"

"S-shut up!"

"You know, if you jump, I'm sure you'd be able to use Shadow Coil to reach the next rooftop."

"I'm not going to try."

"You'll have to."

"Why?" Emily cried.

"Because I'm going to push you."

And with that, the Outsider shoved Emily off the ledge.

With a flash of shadows and a hard yank, Emily suddenly found herself standing on top of the roof of the house across from the Golden Cat.

The Outsider gave Emily a little wave.

"Good luck, Lady Kaldwin. Do try not to die."

* * *

The evening had worn thin and was dangerously close to subsiding to night as Emily made her way along the mostly empty streets of Dunwall, skirting the edge of the Flooded District. She knew that she'd soon either wander into a Weeper and be killed horribly, or find the Hound Pits Pub, and Corvo. Either way, it would be better than–

"I do have to ask, why don't you call Corvo your father?"

–Him.

Emily dutifully ignored the returned Outsider as she marched through the streets. From a distance, she imagined, they would make a fairly normal pair: a young girl under escort by an older man. Many would mistake her for his daugther–or his wife, Dunwall could be weird like that.–unaware that he was an eldritch creature and she was the heiress of the Isles.

The Outsider clapped his hands together.

"It's because he's Serkonan, isn't it? Can't have a Dunwall woman and a Serkonan coming together ey? Better to be a bastard than half Serkonan."

Emily used Shadow Coil to leap up a building, only to almost fall off of it in fright when she found the Void's representative already waiting for her, the being tapping his chin as if in deep thought.

"You know, being Serkonan isn't necessarily a bad thing."

Emily walked across the rooftop. The Outsider followed.

"Emily, may you turn around?"

Emily kept facing forward defiantly, only to shriek when a sudden sharp pain connected with her shoulder. She spun on her heel and saw the rat that the Outsider was holding.

"What... WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

"I'm having a plague rat bite you, obviously." the Outsider said. "Don't worry: the plague passed through Serkonos centuries ago. The immunes passed their immunity down to their children, who passed that along to their children, and so on and so forth, all the way down to Corvo, and you."

Emily almost ground her teeth. She didn't of course. That would be improper for a young lady such as herself.

"Corvo is not my father."

"And yet, Corvo had sex with your mother, and you popped out nine months later." the Outsider teased.

"I know that," Emily said. "However, it is improper to acknowledge our relation in public places. Or private ones, for that matter "

The Outsider flipped upside down.

"You humans never fail to befuddle and amuse me."

"You are a monster who proves that the Abbey of the Everyman is correct in their persecution of you," Emily countered.

The Outsider's smile didn't help lighten her mood.

Two more Shadow Coils though, and Emily had reached a familiar rooftop.

"Corvo brought me here once…"

She used Shadow Coil one last time and landed just in the back of the Hound Pits Pub.

"Corvo! Corvo!?"

* * *

In the backyard of the pub, the royal protector shot the target dummy he'd been using with a trifecta of explosive crossbow bolts.

"Hmm... it's still pulling a little to the right, Piero."

Piero the inventor grabbed the crossbow and tightened the crosshairs a little.

"Here. Try it now."

"Wait," Corvo said, straining his ears. "I... I think I heard-"

"Corvo?"

"EMILY!"

Corvo shot like a bullet towards the voice, leaping over the fence between the Pub's backyard and the street. In the street, incredibly, was indeed princess Emily Kaldwin!

"Emily!"

"Corvo!" Emily shrieked, leaping into his ready arms. "You're here!"

"Emily, how did you get here?" Corvo glanced up. "Why is the Outsider with you?"

Said being smiled widly.

"Believe it or not, Corvo, I rather like Emily. And since she is now time traveling, I decided that she needed a more... personal touch."

Corvo, understanding his words, nodded at the Outsider before nuzzling the somewhat confused Emily.

"Thank you... thank you..."

* * *

9.01 - What's wrong with Dunwall loopers and stressful beginnings?

9.02 - Welcome Daud. We hope you'll regain your sanity and peace of mind.

9.03 - Suitable forms, don't you think? The wolf-Samuel and fox-Daud jokes are still on, the crow-Corvo one will return soon.

9.04 - Welcome to the Multiverse, Emily Kaldwin. May your loops be as heartwarming as this one.

9.05 - Corvo's just as obsessed with the Amaranth as Samuel. He's just obsessed in a more... destructive way.

9.06 - With this loop, Emily becomes the third mark wielder running around Dunwall. Also, Friendly!Outsider is best Outsider.

Many thanks to Leviticus Wilkes for his wonderful job on Emily's Awakening and Corvo finding out about it. I promised him his name highlighted by giant neon arrows, but I can't do that. Now I'll have to make a compromise and name my firstborn son after him instead.


	10. Chapter 10

One heartwarming moment for five of complete nonsense... yup, sounds about right.

* * *

10.01

* * *

That particular loop had started like many others and was overall beyond insignificant. It was no variant and no announced visiting loopers had been running around. It had all but screamed "BASELIIIIINE!" at him.

Corvo would however eternally remember it.

As per usual, he had Awoken in a dingy reaching the Imperial palace, and sent his usual ping. The one response he'd received back clearly emanated from nearby and was slightly hesitant, as was the case with yet inexperience loopers. He knew of the looper's identity immediately and it brought a smile to his face.

Now, if he was right, it should happen pretty soon.

Three…

Two…

One…

"CORVO!"

As predicted, the Anchor was tackled and sent to the ground in a bundle of limbs. With a laugh, he raised his hurting head and smiled at the ballistic missile called Emily Kaldwin currently coiled against his chest.

"Missed me princess?"

"You know I did, but you surely missed me more." replied the girl in a muted tone, emotions all over the place.

Right, her state was alarming, but he'd expected it.

Samuel and her had had a stealth-Anchored fused loop together, where Emily had replaced some Asian girl and gone to war in place of the boatman, her father for the loop. Said temporary father had later met him a few loops down the road and shared his concerns with him.

If her baseline experiences and the seventeen other times she'd escaped her kidnappers alone had taught her courage, determination, as well as granted her a burning desire to take her city out of the nightmare it had fallen in, this war had taught her something else entirely. She'd learnt that sometimes, you just had to accept a necessary evil… even if that evil was you.

It had been nothing like a training exercise, and no sparring against friendly masters either. In this loop, his little girl had fully experienced the horror of war. She'd fought and she'd been forced to kill. Even if unwillingly, she'd created orphans and widows. She'd saved a country, but she'd also utterly destroyed another's hope of a future in the process.

Emily had been a mess for weeks afterward, and Samuel had begun to fear that, on top of her guilt, she'd for some reason seen a parallel between that experience and their everyday life in Dunwall. More precisely, Corvo's.

It was a logical thought process, really. The royal protector had shouldered this very same burden, this responsibility, ever since his baseline. As a guardian, he still had it worst though, since the targets he was forced to act against, even kill, were the very persons he'd sworn to protect, Dunwall's inhabitants. But the worst of it all was that, as Anchor, he was and would be alone times and times again, only adding weight to it, faster than any of them casual loopers.

Samuel had feared that Emily would experience a transfer, wrongly convincing herself that she was somehow responsible for the man's burden and chronic loneliness. He feared that the little heiress' psyche would reach a breaking point.

Seeing her now, clutching at him like a drowning victim would to a lifebuoy, Corvo had no trouble believing it.

He had to ease her worries, urgently…

"I'm fine, Emily." he whispered softly.

She said nothing, but her grip did tighten.

Corvo sighed.

Why were children always so complicated?

"Emily, I _did_ miss you. But I always had Samuel or Daud to keep me company."

"...Liar."

"All right, maybe not always, but the few times when I didn't, the Outsider was friendly enough. I even took your mother on a roadtrip around the Void. Twice! So really, everything's good."

The grip loosened slightly and he managed to breath.

"You… you want to talk about your loops?"

From her voice only, the Anchor could tell that she rather wanted to talk about hers. He did the only rational choice and respond affirmatively.

"Yes, I'd like that." he smiled. "But we're surrounded by prying ears at the moment. I say we save your mother and keep this conversation for once things have calmed down. What do you think?"

"…Can we tell mother again? About the loops?"

She was willing to talk, that was a good start. Besides, Jessamine always knew what to say to calm her down, even with the occasional loop-related issue, so telling her would definitely help.

"Of course, we will."

"… Thanks." she sniffled, eyes wet with unshed tears.

"My pleasure. Can you get off of me now?"

The little heiress yipped and hurried to do just that.

Corvo merely smiled.

The two loopers had to suffer the unavoidable encounter with Sokolov and Campbel, and the quicker yet even more distasteful encounter with the Lord Regent, but they finally were left alone with Empress Jessamine… and a fair number of nearby assassins.

"It's a fair wind that brings you home to me. What news have you brought?" asked Jessamine, oblivious to the danger of her situation.

"None too good, my love. Assassins are coming."

That left her agape. Had Corvo really said that aloud? What was he thinking?

And what was that about… assassins?

"I know it may sounds rushed, but there's really no time to explain. Stay with Emily, she'll keep you safe. I'll handle this, then we'll talk."

"Come, mother." said the girl, dragging the Empress further away while, in a swift move, Corvo had summoned his sword and blinked away at the roof.

* * *

The men had overestimated themselves.

Whalers they may have been, but they had only ever used a borrowed power, gifted upon them thanks to their chief's understanding of the Void. Corvo carried his own mark, and had done so for centuries, if not millenniums. They fell in seconds, leaving only Daud as a potential threat.

Where had the man gone?

"**EMILY!"**

He really didn't like that answer.

* * *

Corvo rejoined the gazebo in a perfectly controlled flash step, ready to strike the hired assassin. Only to curse as he discovered the Blade of Dunwall trading blows with Dunwall's young heiress holding a gleaming kris, right before the eyes of her terrified mother.

Things could hardly have been worse.

Daud was a fully trained assassin with a sword mastery almost unparalleled in baseline, and he was facing a ten year old girl who's experience with sword fighting had almost entirely been created in an older, leaner body. The whaler was simply faster, stronger, and deadlier in general.

The royal bodyguard, holding his breath, began to approach discreetly, ready to strike and finish the man threatening Emily.

"Don't! He's MINE."

Of course she would stop him, why wouldn't she? He was just trying to SAVE HER after all!

"WHAT?" yelled Jessamine, worry leaving momentarily her eyes to be replace by another set of emotion… complete befuddlement.

Great, now her mother didn't know who was crazier, the assassin or her own daughter. And judging from Daud's slight hesitation, he was wondering something of the like too.

"Emily, you're not ready. Daud is a master, he's been going easy on you in training."

"I know, and I don't care."

"Shan Yu's sword was made for assassination, not hours-long sword-fights. It won't resist for long against a blade forged in our time period."

"I know, and _I don't care_."

"It's too heavy for you, your body can't even react as you want it to. Look, you're already tiring yourself out."

"I know, and I. DON'T. BLOODY. CARE."

"Emily, you're mother's _still watching_."

That caused a reaction, if even a small one. Emily paused for a split second… then her eyes narrowed.

"So be it."

Corvo wanted to sigh and scream at the same time. How was he supposed to reason with someone that was bent on not listening to anything he said?

"CORVO, DO SOMETHING!"

"I'm trying, Jessamine."

"MY BABY'S STILL FIGHTING, TRY HARDER."

"You don't understand mother." sobbed the heiress. "Our Daud may be regretful, but this one is… he's a monster. He'll kill you again. I'll be abducted, and … and father…"

Corvo's breath accelerated… the word seemed so foreign in her mouth. Just as foreign were the bitter tears raining down her face.

The Anchor felt a sudden impulse to shunpo'ed right in to break Daud's neck.

"Father will be alone, again." continued Emily. "He always is… and I'm sick of it."

"E… Emily..."

The weeping girl got distracted by her mother's trembling voice and lowered her weapon ever so slightly, leaving her guard wide open.

Daud took advantage of this apparent slip-up and brought his blade down to strike the young heiress… only to met air.

While it may have seemed accidental at first glance, a careful observer would have noticed that Emily's 'mistake' was in fact planned. She'd never even averted her eyes away from her opponent, nor had her grip on the sword faltered.

But Corvo had been too distracted, Jessamine too distressed, and Daud too freaked out by that weird exchanges and situation in general to notice anything amiss, until it was already too late.

The Whaler had stricken, but the heiress had narrowly avoided the blow with the only real power she'd managed to master, her Shadow Coil. As if in slow motion, she'd dropped her sword, grabbed a column, and dragged herself across the gazebo. With her petite figure and her small weight, she skimmed right past the assassin's strike, even feeling the air acceleration caused by the weapon brushed against her skin. Another Coil brought her sword back in her palm, and a third propelled her forward at high speeds.  
Daud's body fell, a little more heartless than he'd been before.

Time resumed and Emily dropped her blade… only to follow directly after it,clearly exhausted, her legs giving up under her.

Corvo and Jessamine reacted at the same time and caught her as one, the empress immediately beginning to whisper comforting words, simultaneously making sure that her child was unhurt.

The bodyguard was, for his part, trying to calm his racing heart.

Emily… she'd just killed a man. It was horrible, right? But she'd _loop__ed_ a few times already, she had killed before, and would kill in the future… there was no helping it. In fact, she'd been so brilliant that he wanted to congratulate her… and kill the damn Lord Regent at the same time for causing this whole mess.

Corvo sighed.

Yggdrasil, looping was messing with his moral compass. And his head.

"She… she fell asleep."

The tired voice of the empress got him out of his trance, and his brain struggle for a few more seconds before her words finally registered.

"That's… a good thing, actually. She needs to rest."

She'd pushed her body so much…

"She does, yes… but Corvo, what you said, and… what she did... I… I need to know what's happening, Corvo."

At that moment, the Empress looked as fragile as her unconscious daughter. Corvo even wondered if he shouldn't be hugging her instead.

"And you will." he reassured her. "We wanted to tell you anyway, this just got… out of hand."

Understatement of the century.

"But before that, please, call the guards. They were sent away, but they should not be that far and will listen to you. Also, don't trust anything the Regent or the High Overseer might tell you. No matter what they say or do, tell them you'll be safe with me and return at once. Then we'll bring Emily to her room and I'll explain everything."

Jessamine hurried to do just that, even if reluctantly, leaving her companion with her daughter.

Silence fell on the gazebo.

Corvo gently started to lull the girl, her head resting on his arm, his other hand brushing her hair.

"Emily, what you did… it was beyond reckless. You could have died, you know. And even if it wouldn't have been permanent, I don't want your mother to see this… ever. And I'm sure you don't either…"

The girl muttered something under her breath, making Corvo scowl.

"Pray that I never find out where you learnt that, young lady."

He smiled softly and whispered a few more words.

"You did a good job, daughter of mine."

Emily, still asleep, mumbled once again.

"Thank you... father."

For that simple moment, he would forever treasure this memory.

* * *

10.02

* * *

Daud Awoke mid-fight, in an already battered body about to loose consciousness from blood-loss.

A furred and clawed knuckle promptly crushed his spleen and sent his body into the air. The assassin fell on the ground with a loud thump, hurting his bum and adding humiliation to his already quite severe injuries in the process.

Getting up slowly to avoid snapping his fragile bones, he managed to send a ping to, hopefully, receive some form of help from whoever was anchoring. Then the loop-memories hit him.

Daud instantly hated this loop.

Of every branches and sub-branches in Yggdrasil, he had to loop into this one…

"Hey, you're feeling Loopy?" asked his opponent, a freakingly huge werewolf, while sending a ping of his own.

"I wouldn't say no to an Anchor… and painkillers" groaned Daud, rubbing his broken ribs.

"Sorry about that, your unawake self was an asshole."

"I kinda got that, yes."

He was apparently an assassin – not surprising here, he usually replaced assassin and mercenaries – working for a Tylon Corporation. His unawake self was a vain effeminate bastard with psychological issues, including a disturbing love for blood, killing and generally hurting his enemies or whoever he was pointed at, and… being quite fond of crossdressing, if his current attire was any indication.

"Want a hand with your injuries, or you're good?" asked the other looper, fur and fangs long gone by now. He was human, and a fighter, judging by his muscular body and the beating of a lifetime the Whaler had received.

"Thanks, but I get it." he replied, getting a couple of Sokolov's Elixirs from his pocket and downing them instantly. His wounds began to close in seconds and he managed to get up, even if extremely carefully.

The local looper whistled.

"Good stuff. Where'd you got that?"

"Dunwall, my home branch. I wouldn't recommend a vacation trip though, a plague's running wild."

"I'll keep that in mind." said the guy, presenting his hand. "Yugo Ogami, Anchor for the Zoanthrope Loops."

Zoanthropes, beings that appeared to be humans – with a few exceptions – but had another side, a literal inner beast they could morph into. His unawake self had red a bunch of files and aside from Yugo, the wolf, and this other Tylon mercenary Bakuryu, the mole, knew of the existence of a boar, a lion, a leopard, a tiger, a rabbit, a gorilla and of course, his own form… the fox.

He REALLY hated this loop.

"Or you can just say Bloody Roar, if you've ever played our games."

"I can't say I have, no. I'm Daud, nice to meet you."

"Same here. Now excuse me if it seems hasted, but what are your plans for the loop? I assume you won't work for Tylon much longer?"

"No, I won't."

"Want to kick them around then? Zoanthropes are still held captive, Alice isn't Awake this time around, and I could use another looper."

"I'm all for it." said Daud. He had gained memories of the experiments performed by the group of self-proclaimed geniuses, and they had to be stopped. "But I need to ask you something first."

"Sure, shoot."

"The Beast Form, will I keep it?"

"You should, yes."

Daud's hatred for this loop had just gone through the roof.

"Then I'll need your help to work with it."

Yugo raised an eyebrow.

"Shouldn't you know how to use it already? Loop memories and all?"

"The 'how' isn't the problem here, it's rather about me _wanting _to use it."

"What?"

"Look, it may sounds weird, but my first fused loop made sure that I would never look at a spider or a fox the same way ever again."

And wasn't that an understatement.

"If we go after Tylon Corporation, we'll have to fight and I want to be able to change at will. I can't do that if the mere idea of morphing makes me freeze on the spot. I need you to pound it into my head until I can switch without flinching."

"Well, sure, I can do that, but are you certain you want me to? You can just… not use it, right?"

"There are other guards, and that weird Chimera, Uriko and even though my pocket isn't locked, I'm sure that you don't want me to shoot them with explosive bullets. My mark ain't locked either, but it's known to cause crashes, and I'd rather avoid this. So as much I would want to, no, I can't just brush it off."

"Fine. Just… don't break down on me, alright?"

"I'll take a couple of loops to freak out properly once I get back home, don't worry about it."

The Anchor shrugged.

"Works for me. We start tomorrow, get ready to have your ass kicked."

Daud nodded, silently and repeatedly cursing Yggdrasil, Hecate, and every foxes in the multiverse at the same time.

He would get out of this loop alive, bury this Beast Form so deep than even a mutated giant World Eater from that Terraria safe-loop wouldn't manage to reach it, and he would never talk about it ever again!

* * *

10.03

* * *

A pointy-eared boy – that was definitely not an elf – Awoke to his tree house being assaulted by an overly-excited winged ball of light.

The annoying little bugger, a fairy named Navi, had been sent by the Great Deku Tree to help him on his quest. Quest that, he was sure, would reach otherworldly proportions in no time. No way could he just save the tree and go back to bed.

He was proven right when the forest's dying protector began to unfold the tale of the three goddesses.

* * *

"Before time began, before spirits and life existed… Three golden goddesses descended upon the chaos that was Hyrule… Din, the goddess of power… Nayru, the goddess of wisdom… and Farore, the goddess of courage. Din… With her strong flaming arms, she cultivated the land and created the red earth. Nayru… Poured her wisdom onto the earth and gave the spirit of law to the world. Farore… With her rich soul, produced all life forms which would uphold the law. The three great goddesses, their labors completed, departed for the lands beyond time, leaving a parting gift to all living races. As for every light, there is a shadow, a shade remained at the point where the goddesses left the world. Since then, it has become the beholder of our world's fate, guiding it as per the goddesses' words. And, the resting place of that shadow, has become the holy realm known as the Void."

The boy began to curse like a sailor, the fairy by his side turning bright red in embarrassment and the large tree silently wishing for a quicker death.

* * *

Despite the weather being one of a bright sunny day, the boy managed to sneak past another distracted guard. He looked at the man's retreating back and shook his head sadly. He was feeling sorry for the poor Captain who had to deal with those layabouts idiots.

The fairy by his side really wanted to sigh, but settled for a quiet humming. She'd watched the boy run circles around the soldiers and thousand years old time-traveler or not – her companion had explained the whole looping business earlier, with enough proofs to back up his claims – the castle's security measures were still deplorable. An inexperienced kid could have worked his way around them.

In minutes, the two intruders had reached the inner garden and met a familiar face. At least for one of them. Navi just hoped that her Kokiri friend had been right, as their quest would then be that much more easier.

"Looking in on others is a terrible habit, Princess Emily. What would your mother say?"

The young lady turned to her visitors, seemingly unfazed even though she'd been caught spying through a window on important political figures.

"She wouldn't say anything, because she couldn't possibly know about this."

"Unless someone told her." replied cheekily the boy.

"You wouldn't."

"Wouldn't I?"

The girl frowned.

The boy smirked.

The fairy remained silent, watching the drama.

"But I'm your _daughter_."

His smile only widened.

"And?"

"You tell her about this, and be assured that she'll find some interesting pictures… _Reaven_."

The smile faded away, replaced by a scowl.

"That's blackmail."

"And what you're doing ain't?"

"… Touché."

Navi laughed.

The princess simply looked smug.

"Your threats are getting better." remarked the boy.

"I had a good teacher."

"And don't you forget it." interrupted a raspy voice.

"Daud."

"Lady Emily, it's always a pleasure. Greetings, little fairy. And Corvo, you look… cute."

"Get lost, Weasley reject."

The answer to that particular barb is better left untranscripted.

"But more seriously, hair color aside, what is wrong with this loop?" asked the former Whaler.

"You're a king, Daud. What could possibly be wrong about that?" wondered Dunwall's heiress.

"With my people living in a goddesses-forsaken haunted desert and our history of thieving closing more doors by the day, my unawake self wanted nothing more than to gain access to the Void and claim a mark for himself. The slimy little curse I broke the other day probably didn't help either."

"A curse?"

"From something on par with the Leviathan, I'd say. I had to use _Foul Play_ combined with a _Dream Eater_."

"Isn't _Dream Eater_ a move for sleeping targets? How could that work on a curse?"

"Well, the curse seemed to link me to the local afterlife. Whatever that waster was before, it's dead… and being dead, or asleep… potayto, potahto. Good thing it worked anyway, it probably would have forced me to rule the world, which would have involved a significant amount of bloodshed.

Navi … would have been bad.

Emily had gotten livid too, remembering the vivid dreams her current incarnation had.

"I see your point."

Corvo, would also have been outraged by this clearly evil design, had he actually followed the discussion. Sadly, a four-letter word had took him completely by surprise and he'd been momentarily stunned… until this very moment.

"Wait a minute, you're a king?"

The look of complete disbelief on his face caused two giggles and a humph.

The princess took pity on her father and gestured dramatically to the older man.

"Fairy Boy, meet the King of the Gerudo."

"Gerudo? You mean that exclusively female race from the desert?"

"_Almost_ exclusively female. A boy destined to rule is born every hundred years." provided the fairy.

"So it's something like a… three hundred-to-one ratio? Why are you complaining again?"

"Corvo..."

"He does have a point, Daud. Your curse's gone and Hyrule will definitely help your people, so why haven't you grabbed a couple of Gerudos from your escort and rented a room at the inn already? You know, if you're short on rupies, I can always lend you some."

"Emily, you're too young for that kind of talk." chastened Corvo, the statement rendered silly by his own childish body.

"I'm over two hundred years old, dad."

"You're still a kid."

"Daaaaad."

* * *

10.04

* * *

Emily Drexel Lela Kaldwin, heiress to the throne of Dunwall, was scared. Completely and utterly scared.  
Or she should have been. In fact, she was feeling just fine, if a little thirsty.  
Oh, sure, her mom had been killed. She had herself been kidnapped, locked in the Golden Cat ever since, and Corvo was currently in jail, waiting for his execution.  
But looping was a wonderful thing, and the Emily about to exit this room was nothing like the Emily who had been brought in.  
Pinging upon Awakening and receiving two responses, she quickly checked her loop memories and confirmed that nothing was amiss. The loop being now officially a baseline, the looping princess grabbed a sword in her pocket and turned her left arm toward the door, ready to escape. As usual, she would blast right through, run to another room to access the roof, and free-run her way to the Houds.  
Her mark promptly activated and shadow tendrils shot at the door, digging into the wood. The coils began to contract and Emily closed her eyes, bracing for the impact.

* * *

"Worm-eaten?" snickered Samuel.  
"Yeeees." angrily hissed Emily.  
"You got a door to the face because the door jamb was worm-eaten?" insisted the boatman.  
Emily glared, her frown making the deep red bruise on her forehead even more prominent.  
Samuel tried to keep himself under control.

He really did...  
The looper lost it entirely and fell from his chair, laughing like a maniac. For the next ten minutes, the honorary Space Wolf could be seen running all around the Houd Pit Pub, laughing his ass off, pursued by the angry heiress shooting light-arrows at him and cursing in Hylian.  
"Language!" admonished her father, himself stifling a smirk into his drink.

* * *

10.05

* * *

Hecate, goddess of the new moon, crossroads, witchcraft and necromancy – she loved her titles – was undecided. She didn't know if she was supposed to panic, cry, or yell at her screen. She even briefly considered throwing it out the window, that would surely calm her down.

Something had replaced the rats in the loop currently running, and she had a pretty good idea of who had caused this mess.

"MIIIIIS! GET YOUR LEATHER-CLADDED ASS IN HERE!"

Ten seconds later, Artemis, goddess of the hunt and the crescent moon, had joined her anthropomorphic bird of a sister.

"Yes, Cat?"

"Did you… Hey, what's with the robe?"

Instead of the usual leather tunic she had taken to wear around Adminspace, Artémis was draped in a low-cut dress, and her crude wooden bow was now made of polished silver, making her whole silhouette glow in an ethereal light.

Weird.

"Oh, that's my business suit. Makes for a better impression on the loopers than the skins, feathers and bones."

Her sister had thought something through?

Incredible, there may still be something to save then.

"I bet it does. Now, did you, yes or no, touch my terminal behind my back?"

"Huh…"

That definitely sounded like a yes.

"Dammit Mis, there are raptors running around Dunwall."

"Really? Sounds fun, let me see, let me see… Hooo, cool."

"No, not cool. The citizens are being eaten by rabid dinosaurs. Definitely _not cool_. Seriously Mis, you're a sister to me, and I really appreciate the help you and Len are giving me, but what is wrong with you? I already have enough problems with the crashes and Daud's poorly fixed Awakening point, I don't need new ones. Having your loop confiscated should have taught you something."

"It did. It taught me that I really don't like Skuld."

"Skuld did nothing wrong,_ you_ played with your looper's coding. If there's one thing you should have learn, it's to stop messing around with loops' codes. Especially with loops THAT DON'T BELONG TO YOU."

"But I have to keep practicing, you know? For when they'll give me my loops back."

"They're never going to give them back if you keep hacking into my computer. Or others', for that matter."

Artemis shrugged.

"Give me the password, I won't have to hack into it."

Okay, her sister was a lost cause.

The exasperated goddess of witchcraft rose from her seat and went to the door, the huntress watching her with growing dread.

"Cat, what are you doing? Don't tell me you're going to…? No, I'm your sister Cat, you wouldn't dare."

Forcing the door open with a wave of a wing, Hecate sent her sister a smirk. The message was loud and clear, 'Watch me!'

The rest happened too fast for Artemis to react. The wing-armed admin breathed deeply, threw her head back and yelled loudly enough to be heard all the way down from the Celtic department.

"ARDWINNA! ARTEMIS' SLACKING OFF AGAIN!"

"I hate you." deadpanned the hunt goddess.

"Don't mess with my loop." growled back her sister.

* * *

10.06

* * *

The Dunwall loopers had probably been extremely nice – very unlikely –, or Hecate had felt merciful – that was more like it –, because the four of them had Awoken in a Hub-like world for the very first time.  
Well, first time for all but the Anchor.  
Corvo had come in such a loop once, and stupidly decided to play the Dishonored game, the back-up file for his branch. The only thing he'd gained from this experience was a new variant where he was entirely mute.  
Well, screw you too, you damn tree!  
He'd also spent half an hour pointlessly threatening a poor animal. A guardian had finally rushed in the cage and explained that Arkane Studios, the society who'd produced the videogame the Anchor had been frantically waving around and screaming about at the time, was apparently based in Lyon, with a 'y'. According to the box, it was a town in France, a country located on another continent entirely, and it had nothing to do with the poor defenseless feline that would now need therapy sessions.  
Corvo had left the zoo even grumpier than he'd entered it.  
But it wouldn't happen this time.  
"Where are you going dad?" asked Emily when she saw him go for the door.  
"I have an appointment."  
The almost manic gleam in his eyes kept her for asking more details.  
From his computer, Samuel could only sigh, rubbing his face tiredly.  
"Can't believe he's going for it."  
"Care to share?" asked Daud, lazily laying on the couch.  
"I'm pretty sure he's off to France. We spoke, some loops ago, and he told me he had a few chosen words for the guys who made our universe."  
"He's aware than they never actually 'made' us, isn't he?"  
"Doesn't looks like he cares." mumbled the soldier, returning to his screen. He really wanted to find a store selling 40K products in the vicinity, he needed to take a look at a few codex.  
Daud simply shrugged and returned to his fishing magazine, something he'd taken as a hobby since his loop in Terraria. He wasn't even fazed by his Anchor's antics anymore, Corvo was just that hopeless.  
Emily pocketed the half-sculpted Bone Charm she'd been working on – a little study project she'd received from a friendly Outsider – and followed her idiotic father. He would definitely need to be smacked upside the head and be called a jackass at some point. As his daughter, she happily volunteered for this task.

* * *

10.01 - Frenzy, blood and fluff in a single snip. And it's not even my birthday!

10.02 - A were-fox who's perfectly in control of his beasty side, but is too scared to even use it... Seriously Daud, what are we going to do with you?

10.03 - Demise got powned by his own strength, it's rather sad. Oh, and Corvo's a little overprotective of Emily.

10.04 - Samuel is like the funny uncle who's always up for a good laugh... even at the risk of being turned into a pincushion. His inner-wolf's probably messing up his sense of self-preservation.

10.05 - If you don't want the celtic goddess of animals coming after you, don't mess with Hecate. It would provide results, though.

10.06 - So, to sum it up: Yggdrasil is a sadist, that lion was probably innocent, Corvo knows how to hold a grudge, Samuel's not amused, Daud's not amused, and Emily will probably have a good time.

I hope you enjoyed those loops.

Thanks for reading and stay tune for the next chapter.


	11. Chapter 11

Brace yourself, new loops are coming… wait, wrong branch.

* * *

11.01

* * *

"And… it's legit?"

"I'm afraid so." replied Hecate, looking quite grave.

Facing her, seated in one of the Hound Pits pub's banquette, were a grim-faced Anchor and his daughter. On nearby stools, Samuel and Daud were respectfully staying silent, while the pub's staff and the loyalists were shamelessly listening-in from the door.

Calling the goddess could look like an immoderate act, but with what the two Attanos had discovered in their Hub-loop, it had been necessary.

They were getting an extension.

Corvo and Emily had successfully reached Lyon, in France, and located Arkane Studios. There, they'd proceeded with their intended courses of actions. The first one had come to threaten the game creators, while the second only wanted to moderate her father's actions

They'd barely entered the building when they'd seen it… a small cardboard inviting them to relocate to a nearby room to see and comment on the new Dishonored 2 trailer.

Their original plans were disregarded in the blink of an eye, and they'd followed the sign, apprehension slowly growing in them.

How right they'd been.

Like their original back-up material, this new Dishonored 2 game looked quite bloody. The Empire would apparently go through the turmoil of yet another plague. The southern isles would fall. Of Corvo, there was no trace other than his mask. Instead, Emily would be the main character, apparently portrayed as a murderer by conspirators. Marked by the Outsider, she would probably have to prove her innocence and regain her throne, like her father before her.

And now, their Admin had confirmed the authenticity of this new extension.

Finally verifying the origin of Emily's Shadow Coil was good.

The rest… not so much.

"For the time being, I can't do anything but pray that it won't be too bad." admitted Hecate, looking compassionately at her loopers. "And be sure that at the first sign of Yggdrasil fixing new content, or any activation attempt, I will warn you. I'll also try to patch whatever I can, but I can't promise anything."

Corvo nodded, knowing that nothing more could be done.

"Thank you."

The Admin smiled sadly, and rose from her seat.

"No, thank you. Now, if you would be so kind…?"

"Right, your sisters."

Whenever their Admin came to Dunwall, the Leviathan tried to interfere, and had to be baited elsewhere. Her sisters usually came with her for that reason, and then needed Corvo's help to flee, least they would destabilize the entire loop by escaping with their own unrestrained powers.

"Sister this time, Artemis was busy." corrected Hecate.

"Good, it'll be easier. Now, Daud, give the plague's antidote to Pierrot and start mass production."

"On it." replied the Assassin, vanishing in a Blink.

"Samuel, can you keep Lady Hecate company?"

"It will be my pleasure." beamed the boatman, showing the goddess out of the room.

The Anchor then turned to his daughter, and a bright smile appeared on his face.

"Emily, you're with me… we're going whale-hunting."

* * *

11.02

* * *

"Mom, what are those men doing on the rooftop?" asked the little princess, fear making her voice shake.

Corvo simply came closer to hug her, blocking her field of vision with his larger body. A wet sound suddenly made itself heard, strangely bubbling… then the screams began. They morphed quickly in deformed moans of insufferable pain, and the imperial bodyguard didn't let go of Emily until they properly ended.

"Corvo, what is this thing?" asked the little princess, pointing to the weird goo that covered the roof, and the strangely organic-looking rock that had appeared like a mirage and was now oozing a green acid.

"That's a river krust, sweetheart."

* * *

11.03

* * *

The Overseer may have been trained to respond to that kind of threat, but a part of his mind – getting bigger by the minute – was frantically shouting at him to get the hell out of this place.

No matter how he looked at it, something definitely wasn't right around headquarters.

For hours now, walls and floors had been cracking, as if the entire building had been slowly awakening and was about to break into thousands of pieces. Shadows had seemed more opaque, almost alive, as if lying in wait for an opportunity to catch him off-guard and swallow him whole. Even more unsettling was that nagging sensation of being under the scrutiny of something unfriendly. Every time he turned around, he half expected to meet face to face with some kind of hostile beast out for his blood. But the worst of it all were the other patrols who had been slowly disappearing all night, in nothing more than a whisper. He was all alone to face this nightmare.

Overseer vow of not, the man would have run away screaming like a little girl… if he hadn't been completely lost. He couldn't understand how such a thing was possible since he knew the building layouts by heart, as all Overseers were required to, but he kept ending up in rooms he wasn't even close to in the first place. He also couldn't find a single damn door leading outside the mansion. Windows weren't an option either, they had vanished all the same.

A yet unseen hex, used by some Void zealot, that was the only reasonable explanation for his current predicament. It was obviously a twisted plot, made by some vile forces worshiping the Outsider, to drag him into paranoia and madness…

And it was working!

The Overseer could feel his heart running like a galloping horse, a mad one.

He was in desperate need of a Holger's device. If he could find a music box, its pure melody would prevent unholy magic.

But he couldn't find any. The ones once stationed in the hallways were lacking, the ones carried around by other Overseers had went MIA with them, and he couldn't retrieve a stored one with the building's inner structure so thoroughly twisted.

The voice in his brain was bigger and louder now.

The Overseer was alone, with no way out, and no other weapon than the sword he was holding in his shaky hand. He wasn't even sure he could strike anything in the state he was in.

The man wanted to cry… to yell… to curled up in a corner… to pray for death to come and free him.

He was suffocating, he was drowning, he was… right before a device, apparently.

The Oversee had just turned a corner – how he had done so in a straight corridor was a mystery – to find himself before a music box resting on a table.

His fragile mind immediately began to send way too many conflicting messages to him. He wanted to flee from this trap, and at the same time, he wanted to throw himself at it. He wanted to play the partition, but he also wanted to set it on fire.

He blinked, only to find his hand on the Holder's device controls. He wasn't sure how, but he'd manifestly taken a decision.

Relief washing over him, the man moved the handle, making the box crack up.

His hope shattered in a million pieces when a catchy song began to play.

"We're no strangers to love. You know the rules and so do I…"

He began to cry.

* * *

On a nearby chandelier, a lone Anchor concealed in the shadows snickered.

He should really drive Overseers insane more often, it was fun.

* * *

11.04

* * *

Emily Kaldwin, sweet and innocent heiress to the imperial throne, was happily terrifying the poor staff members of the Hound Pits pub.

Piero Joplin had barricaded himself in his workshop, Callista Curnow was looking on the verge of quitting whenever she came back from a tutoring session with the young girl, the three traitorous Loyalists were keeping to their living quarters, and all the other employees were avoiding her just the same.

Samuel Beechworth, had previously applied an old Space Wolf philosophy that could be summarized as 'Choose your battle.', which basically meant that he was scared senseless of her and didn't want to face her wrath.

But eaten away by curiosity as he was, he finally yielded. He absolutely needed to know what had managed to put the young looper in such a sour mood and thus, went straight to his Anchor to get the full story.

At first, Corvo discarded his question with a simple "She's just venting, let her be."

Samuel didn't give up though, and after being forced to look at the inside of a Gauss rifle's barrel, the Anchor finally saw reason.

"You remember that loop you had with her, in Ancient China?"

The boatman nodded gravely.

How could he have forgot, when that loop had had such a deep impact on Emily, even pushing her to face Daud by herself – and win!

"Well, this branch is recorded in the Hub as an animated movie called 'Mulan', and produced by the Disney company. The thing is, they produced quite a number of other movies, almost all of them gravitating around a princess or a queen, and all those universes are looping. The Disney Princesses live quite the adventures, and with Jessamine for mother, Emily is basically a princess herself. She keeps on replacing them."

"Oh… so she didn't just have a bad loop, she had a number of them?"

"Well, they're not bad loops per say. There's only a couple of kidnappings, murders, betrayal, manipulation, and evil sorceresses throwing hexes around. But it's fairly easy to get friendship, love and a happy end, even without any pocket or out-of-loop abilities. Take the one we're just coming back for instance, she only had to kiss a frog."

"… did you just say –"

"That she had to kiss a frog? Yes, I did, though it was an insufferable prince unAwake me had cursed earlier, and she had the excuse of being a frog too at the time."

"I… suppose that it could have been worse. It _does_ explain her anger though…"

The building shook on its foundations. Samuel wisely decided no to comment on it, and carried on with his questions.

"If you unAwake self had turned the prince into a frog, couldn't you have undone it yourself?"

"It would have been with pleasure, but I didn't perform the spell myself at the time."

"Then who did?" asked Samuel with an inquisitive look.

As another tremor shook the area, the Anchor stole a glace at his shadow, cast on the aged wall by the sunlight filtering through the veiled window. Said shadow seemed definitely darker than the others, and as Corvo looked back at Samuel with a perturbing smile, the shadow could briefly be seen smirking wickedly itself.

"Just my friends on the other side."

* * *

11.05

* * *

Corvo Attano was a happy Anchor.

His branch wasn't that bright, he even had to admit that it was downright bloody and depressing, but he had been blessed with three wonderful loopers: Samuel Beechworth, trusted friend; Daud, redeemed kindred soul; Emily Kaldwin, dear daughter.

And because he wanted to share his happiness, he decided to buy them presents.

* * *

"Is that a… cog?" asked Samuel.

And indeed, the boatman's gift was a small steel cog, gleaming in the sunlight.

Why was Corvo giving him this?

He expressed his confusion, and his Anchor 's reply left him quite confused.

"It's something of a memorial." began the imperial bodyguard. "You know how Emily's studying Bone Charms? Well, it made me want to try my hand at enchanting, and I had this project to try and ward your boat against explosions as an apology for the many times I caused it to blow up. It's not working perfectly right now, as I retrieved this cog in yet another Amaranth's wreckage, but this time around, the enchantment was anchored on it and as you see, the piece itself is not even indented, so that's really encouraging. Please, accept this as my promise that I'll work hard to avoid further harm being done to your boat."

Corvo's voice seemed genuinely compassionate, but his eyes were almost twinkling at the prospect of turning even more Amaranths to ashes.

During this unnatural exchange, Daud had unwrapped his "I don't give a fox" shirt, and thus wanted nothing more than to brutally murder Corvo. In fact, he'd just mentally added it on his list to Santa.

As for Emily, she was glaring alternatively at her father and the bright pink toy princess' crown she'd received from him. She was contemplating which humiliating loops anecdotes she would need to relate to her mother.

Samuel finally registered what his Anchor had just said. He'd been blowing up the Amaranth, repeatedly, supposedly to 'prevent it from blowing up'…

He didn't manage to contain his anger any longer, and his outcry mixed perfectly with Daud's own bloodthirsty "CORVOOOOO!"

Emily's "DAAAAAAAD!" added, for its part, a most needed touch of femininity to that tense situation.

The Anchor was soon Blinking away, three loopers out for his blood hot on his tail.

* * *

11.06

* * *

As Anchor, Corvo had had infinitely more time to attune himself to the Void, which meant that he had more control and way more power to put behind his spells than the two other bearers in their little looping group. But no matter how many times he'd tried, he'd never managed to use Daud's version of Blink when he wasn't actually replacing the man, pretty much like Emily who was limited to her Shadow Coil.

Daud's Blink ability was so over-powered that it wasn't even funny.

It had the side-effect of actually stopping time whenever it was cast, letting the user all the time in the world to take a decision as to where he wanted to land.

And now that he was looping, Daud was capable of maintaining a half-cast Blink to create a time-freezing effect while focusing on another thing entirely. Naturally, he was completely abusing this.

It was rather usual by now to see him stopping time simply to meditate, and Corvo couldn't really blame him, as he was doing the exact same thing every time he entered Jinzen to talk with his sword.

But _that..._ that was definitely too much.

The Anchor could only watch, defeated, as the hundreds of Void studies and other Mark-related grimoires he'd gathered across just as many variants were grabbed and discarded by the dozen, the assassin casually reading through them in what appeared to be mere seconds. By the end of the day, the looper would have caught up with him.

That just _had_ to be cheating.

* * *

11.07

* * *

Coughing blood, the empress's face twitched nervously. But despite her obvious pain, her eyes were focused, like in an attempt to carve her loved and trusted bodyguard's face in her mind.

"Corvo... It's all... coming apart. Find Billy. Protect him. You're the only one. You'll know what to do. Won't you? Corvo?"

With those last words, Empress Jessamine Kaldwin died in her bodyguard's arms, who, indeed, knew exactly what to do… namely, find the nearest Outsider's Shrine and stay in the Void for the rest of the Loop.

He was used to dealing with conspirators and a zombie-inducing plague, he didn't do unnatural catastrophes.

* * *

11.08

* * *

Emily Kaldwin was quite happy with herself.

This new loop had began a handful of days ago, and she'd dealt with every single problems by herself. The plague had been cured, every Weeper had been wiped out, and the traitors were in prison, waiting for judgment. Dunwall was now an extremely peaceful city.

Yet, it had nothing to do with the heiress' mood.

If Emily was now sporting a proud smirk, it was in fact due to the glare sent her way by her Anchor.

With the epidemic threat gone, what's more thanks to the heiress, the counsel had found adequate to order a commemorative painting of the imperial couple and their daughter, savior of their great city. Painting she'd discreetly asked a copy of. Copy she'd just retrieved and immediately Pocketed, under her dear _mother_'s wrathful eyes.

Emperor Jessar Kaldwin was, in all honesty, slightly panicking, alternatively looking at his wife and daughter and repeatedly asking them why Anton Sokolov's masterpiece had suddenly disappeared.

Of course, he received no answer.

Reaven Kaldwin, nee Attano, was just too busy glaring at her daughter, who for her part was trying to stifle a giggle, already picturing the face her Anchor of a father would make when the painting would be presented to her mother.

She'd warn him that there would be a price to pay for that toy crown.

* * *

11.09

* * *

Emily Kaldwin blinked Awake, but it most definitely wasn't in the palace's gardens, nor to her usual room at The Golden Cat. Instead, she was standing in an entirely different cell… her father's cell. She'd barely recognized the place that, already, memories assaulted her. Emperor Jessar Kaldwin's death, young Corvo's abduction, the Lady Regent's treachery, being send to Coldridge Prison… Yup, she had replaced her father… well, her son now, the son she'd gave birth to… Damn tree, that memory was _way _to clear for her taste.

Anyway, Corvo had to be there too, or the loop wouldn't run, right? She immediately pinged, receiving no answer back.

Strange… he wasn't Awake? So… were they hosting a stealth Anchor then?

Well, she would just have to deal with the conspiracy by herself. Baseline style, apparently, as her abilities and subspace pocket were annoyingly locked.

The usual imperial heir, now imperial bodyguard, grabbed the lock's key brought by currently still helpful loyalists and began to stealth her way out of the building.

* * *

Emily was moving across rooftops, passing by oblivious guards. It was pretty easy, as she knew all of their rounds by heart.

Yes, she'd exchange place with her father, and her mother had been male while the Lord Regent was now female, but other than those two switched gender, Dunwall was pretty close to baseline. The sewers, the rats, Samuel, the Loyalists, the weepers, the guards… the loop was mostly unchanged.

Except for one thing…. the rats were no rats. The little monsters were nowhere in sight, replaced by even more terrifying creatures.

Short black fur, thin muzzle, lean body, two void-black eyes, and four thin membrane acting as wings. They were known as Bloodflies, but the citizens simply called them 'Nightmares', because those things weren't natural. The Outsider had apparently created them on a whim and unleashed them on the world, propagating his unholy plague through them.

Their presence was unexpected, as they were native to Serkonos, but not so strange when she thought about it. After all, those things had already appeared in their extension's trailer, and Yggdrasil usually needed way less material to mess around with the loopers.

And still, Emily couldn't help but shiver every time she came across one. Because they were a constant reminder that this extension was coming. That their already messed up branch would be twisted even further. That this endless circle of blood and betrayal that Dunwall was already going through in the initial baseline would, in the end, teach nothing to their Branch's inhabitants.

Repressing her anger, the assassin dropped on another building and grabbed a nearby balcony with a Shadow Coil. If she had had time, she would have vaporized the things to vent her frustration, but her kidnapped son of a father was a priority.

* * *

Daud was screaming.

Killing Jessar and kidnapping Corvo hadn't been enough for this version of the assassin. He was violent, bloodthirsty, barely human… he'd tortured the boy into insanity, even though the conspirators had never asked for it. After all, they needed a puppet, not a broken toy.

And so, Daud was screaming.

Again. And again. And… he was dead now, his body slowly being munched on.

Gently holding the broken body of her son, doing her best to ignore the mad laughter mixed in his screams and sobs, Emily walk out of the room. She had to return to the Old Hounds, Corvo would need Samuel and Callista's gentleness to recover, even just partially.

Her?

She didn't need gentleness. She needed to unleash her fury on those other bastards who'd hurt her son. Because even if they'd never asked for that, they were still responsible.

As if reflecting her current murderous train of thought, her mark pulsed ominously. The night would be bloody, and the Bloodflies would feed.

* * *

11.10

* * *

Daud Awoke and was immediately assaulted by his loop memories.

Apparently, it was pretty much baseline. Okay, not really, there was that one tiny little detail...

The Whaler instantly dropped his bloody sword, grabbed the Arwing spaceship he'd pocketed in the Starfox Branch, and escaped the planet's atmosphere not ten seconds later.

Dog-sized plague spiders in place of the usual plague rats?

Nope.

So much nope.

* * *

11.11

* * *

"Dad, what are those men doing on the rooftop?" asked the little princess, pointing at the approaching Whalers.

"Trying to kill your mother, I suppose." calmly replied Corvo.

"I'd figured that out, thank you." replied Emily, rolling her eyes. "But why would they think that upsetting Flappy is a good idea?"

As to answer her, the hired killers started to scream when the furred and winged monstrosity which nest they had disturbed began to assault them.

A horrified Jessamine Kaldwin could only gasp in fright when the thing returned to its nap a few seconds later, leaving but chewed bones and disregarded clothes on the rooftop. It had eaten so cleanly that not a single drop of blood had stained the tiles.

The Anchor, despite his many loops, was equally disturbed. Not by the macabre show, but rather by the perpetrator. Seriously, what was wrong with his daughter's choices of pet? She couldn't have chose a hamster?

Of course not. Bloodflies… it had to be Bloodflies.

* * *

11.01 – Dishonored 2 is coming… can't wait.

11.02 – Whalers' sundae… ew!

11.03 – Sorry for the rickroll, but the Overseer totally deserved it… probably.

11.04 – Emily has no animal joke for now, but she'll get her fair share of princess joke. Poor girl.

11.05 – Trolling others is every looper's privilege, but it's especially true for the Anchor.

11.06 – Daud's Blink is OP.

11.07 – For those wondering, Billy comes from "The Grim Adventures of Billy &amp; Mandy". In the loops, he's causing so much damage just by being utterly stupid, that he's been labeled as an MLE, or Malicious Looping Entity. If you come across an MLE, avoid it, kill it, trap it, but don't let it out of your sight, or your loop is doomed.

11.08 – She's already blackmailing her fa… mother. They grow up so fast.

11.09 – Much like how Corvo and Daud can summon rats, Emily can now summon Bloodflies. They'll be a gory, if sometimes necessary answer to Dunwall's darkest moments.

11.10 – I really love spiders… Daud obviously doesn't.

11.11 – The daughter is now officially as messed up as the father.


End file.
